$100 in 1976 is worth $441 in 2018,
because prices increased 341.3% over that period, an average of
3.60% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$441
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
341.3%
Average inflation rate
3.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$441
Price difference ($100 base)
$341
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1976 → 2018
$441
$100 in 2018 → 1976
$22.66
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2018
Between 1976 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 341.3%, which works out to an average of
3.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.23 buys in 2018: the 1976 dollar
lost 77.3% of its purchasing power over
these 42 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 2018 at the same ratio, 4.41: $1,000 becomes
$4,413, and $10,000 becomes $44,131.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2018
$1.00
$4.41
$5.00
$22.07
$10.00
$44.13
$20.00
$88.26
$50.00
$221
$100
$441
$500
$2,207
$1,000
$4,413
$5,000
$22,066
$10,000
$44,131
$100,000
$441,313
$1,000,000
$4,413,128
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2018
Between 1976 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 832.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 67.1%, against 341.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.60%
$441
Medical care
5.46%
$932
Energy
3.84%
$488
Housing
3.81%
$480
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.64%
$449
Food
3.43%
$412
Transportation
3.24%
$382
Apparel
1.23%
$167
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$441
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $276 by
1996, on its way to $441 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $441; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2018: $100 is worth $441 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2018/