$100 in 1977 is worth $150 in 1981,
because prices increased 50.0% over that period, an average of
10.67% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$150
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
50.0%
Average inflation rate
10.67% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$150
Price difference ($100 base)
$50.00
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1977 → 1981
$150
$100 in 1981 → 1977
$66.67
What happened to prices between 1977 and 1981
Between 1977 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 50.0%, which works out to an average of
10.67% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.67 buys in 1981: the 1977 dollar
lost 33.3% of its purchasing power over
these 4 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 1981 at the same ratio, 1.50: $1,000 becomes
$1,500, and $10,000 becomes $15,000.
Amount in 1977
Value in 1981
$1.00
$1.50
$5.00
$7.50
$10.00
$15.00
$20.00
$30.00
$50.00
$75.00
$100
$150
$500
$750
$1,000
$1,500
$5,000
$7,500
$10,000
$15,000
$100,000
$150,000
$1,000,000
$1,500,000
Inflation by spending category, 1977–1981
Between 1977 and 1981, energy rose the most, up 97.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 21.2%, against 50.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
10.67%
$150
Energy
18.59%
$198
Transportation
12.11%
$158
Housing
12.02%
$157
Core (all items less food & energy)
9.97%
$146
Medical care
9.82%
$145
Food
9.33%
$143
Apparel
4.93%
$121
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (10.32% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–1981 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1977, at end
1977–1980
10.79%
36.0%
$136
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$150
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $120 by
1979, on its way to $150 in 1981; 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 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $150; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 1981: $100 is worth $150 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1981/