$100 in 1977 is worth $136 in 1980,
because prices increased 36.0% over that period, an average of
10.79% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$136
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
36.0%
Average inflation rate
10.79% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$136
Price difference ($100 base)
$35.97
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1977 → 1980
$136
$100 in 1980 → 1977
$73.54
What happened to prices between 1977 and 1980
Between 1977 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 36.0%, which works out to an average of
10.79% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.74 buys in 1980: the 1977 dollar
lost 26.5% of its purchasing power over
these 3 years.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
Every 1977 amount converts to 1980 at the same ratio, 1.36: $1,000 becomes
$1,360, and $10,000 becomes $13,597.
Amount in 1977
Value in 1980
$1.00
$1.36
$5.00
$6.80
$10.00
$13.60
$20.00
$27.19
$50.00
$67.99
$100
$136
$500
$680
$1,000
$1,360
$5,000
$6,799
$10,000
$13,597
$100,000
$135,974
$1,000,000
$1,359,736
Inflation by spending category, 1977–1980
Between 1977 and 1980, energy rose the most, up 74.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 15.6%, against 36.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
10.79%
$136
Energy
20.30%
$174
Housing
12.21%
$141
Transportation
12.09%
$141
Food
9.84%
$133
Core (all items less food & energy)
9.82%
$132
Medical care
9.53%
$131
Apparel
4.97%
$116
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $108 by
1978, on its way to $136 in 1980; 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 the smallest rise was 7.6% in 1978.
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $136; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 1980: $100 is worth $136 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1980/