$100 in 1976 is worth $431 in 2017,
because prices increased 330.8% over that period, an average of
3.63% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$431
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
330.8%
Average inflation rate
3.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$431
Price difference ($100 base)
$331
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1976 → 2017
$431
$100 in 2017 → 1976
$23.21
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2017
Between 1976 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 330.8%, which works out to an average of
3.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.23 buys in 2017: the 1976 dollar
lost 76.8% of its purchasing power over
these 41 years.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
Every 1976 amount converts to 2017 at the same ratio, 4.31: $1,000 becomes
$4,308, and $10,000 becomes $43,079.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2017
$1.00
$4.31
$5.00
$21.54
$10.00
$43.08
$20.00
$86.16
$50.00
$215
$100
$431
$500
$2,154
$1,000
$4,308
$5,000
$21,540
$10,000
$43,079
$100,000
$430,791
$1,000,000
$4,307,909
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2017
Between 1976 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 814.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 67.0%, against 330.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.63%
$431
Medical care
5.55%
$914
Housing
3.83%
$467
Energy
3.76%
$454
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.68%
$439
Food
3.48%
$406
Transportation
3.21%
$366
Apparel
1.26%
$167
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–2017 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1976, at end
1976–1980
9.70%
44.8%
$145
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$230
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$303
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$383
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$431
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $276 by
1996, on its way to $431 in 2017; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $431; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2017: $100 is worth $431 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2017/