$100 in 1976 is worth $449 in 2019,
because prices increased 349.3% over that period, an average of
3.56% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$449
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
349.3%
Average inflation rate
3.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$449
Price difference ($100 base)
$349
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1976 → 2019
$449
$100 in 2019 → 1976
$22.26
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2019
Between 1976 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 349.3%, which works out to an average of
3.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.22 buys in 2019: the 1976 dollar
lost 77.7% of its purchasing power over
these 43 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 2019 at the same ratio, 4.49: $1,000 becomes
$4,493, and $10,000 becomes $44,931.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2019
$1.00
$4.49
$5.00
$22.47
$10.00
$44.93
$20.00
$89.86
$50.00
$225
$100
$449
$500
$2,247
$1,000
$4,493
$5,000
$22,465
$10,000
$44,931
$100,000
$449,309
$1,000,000
$4,493,093
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2019
Between 1976 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 858.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 65.0%, against 349.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.56%
$449
Medical care
5.40%
$958
Housing
3.79%
$494
Energy
3.70%
$477
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.61%
$459
Food
3.39%
$419
Transportation
3.16%
$381
Apparel
1.17%
$165
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2019
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 1976–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$449
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $286 by
1998, on its way to $449 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $449; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2019: $100 is worth $449 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2019/