$100 in 1976 is worth $566 in 2025,
because prices increased 465.8% over that period, an average of
3.60% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$566
in 2025
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
465.8%
Average inflation rate
3.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$566
Price difference ($100 base)
$466
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 2025
321.943
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 2025
2.63%
$100 in 1976 → 2025
$566
$100 in 2025 → 1976
$17.67
What happened to prices between 1976 and 2025
Between 1976 and 2025, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 321.943.
Cumulatively, prices increased 465.8%, which works out to an average of
3.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.18 buys in 2025: the 1976 dollar
lost 82.3% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 2025 at the same ratio, 5.66: $1,000 becomes
$5,658, and $10,000 becomes $56,580.
Amount in 1976
Value in 2025
$1.00
$5.66
$5.00
$28.29
$10.00
$56.58
$20.00
$113
$50.00
$283
$100
$566
$500
$2,829
$1,000
$5,658
$5,000
$28,290
$10,000
$56,580
$100,000
$565,805
$1,000,000
$5,658,049
Inflation by spending category, 1976–2025
Between 1976 and 2025, medical care rose the most, up 1015.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 74.6%, against 465.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 2025, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.60%
$566
Medical care
5.05%
$1,116
Housing
3.88%
$644
Energy
3.79%
$619
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.62%
$571
Food
3.54%
$551
Transportation
3.31%
$494
Apparel
1.14%
$175
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 2025
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–2025 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$455
2020–2025
4.46%
24.4%
$566
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $303 by
2000, on its way to $566 in 2025; 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: 2025
In 2025, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1976 had the buying
power of $566; the year's average CPI of 321.943 is the level
behind every 2025 figure on this page.
2025 was a year of trade policy and data disruptions rather than an
inflation surge. Consumer prices rose 2.6% on average, a step down from
2024’s 2.9% and well below the 8.0% of 2022. Tariffs announced in April
pushed up prices for some imported goods, including furniture, apparel, and
auto parts, but the effect on the overall index was smaller than many
forecasters feared at the start of the year, in part because retailers
absorbed some of the cost and demand for services stayed steady.
The Federal Reserve held its policy rate steady through the first half of the
year, then began cutting again in September, lowering it in three quarter-point
steps to 3.50–3.75% by December.
The federal government shutdown that began October 1 lasted 43 days, and the
Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish a CPI for October 2025 because the
survey data could not be collected. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 78 cents in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1976 to 2025: $100 is worth $566 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2025/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 2025. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-2025/