$100 in 1977 is worth $178 in 1985,
because prices increased 77.6% over that period, an average of
7.44% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$178
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
77.6%
Average inflation rate
7.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$178
Price difference ($100 base)
$77.56
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1977 → 1985
$178
$100 in 1985 → 1977
$56.32
What happened to prices between 1977 and 1985
Between 1977 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 77.6%, which works out to an average of
7.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.56 buys in 1985: the 1977 dollar
lost 43.7% of its purchasing power over
these 8 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 1985 at the same ratio, 1.78: $1,000 becomes
$1,776, and $10,000 becomes $17,756.
Amount in 1977
Value in 1985
$1.00
$1.78
$5.00
$8.88
$10.00
$17.76
$20.00
$35.51
$50.00
$88.78
$100
$178
$500
$888
$1,000
$1,776
$5,000
$8,878
$10,000
$17,756
$100,000
$177,558
$1,000,000
$1,775,578
Inflation by spending category, 1977–1985
Between 1977 and 1985, energy rose the most, up 105.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 33.6%, against 77.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
7.44%
$178
Energy
9.43%
$206
Medical care
8.99%
$199
Housing
8.18%
$188
Transportation
7.65%
$180
Core (all items less food & energy)
7.54%
$179
Food
6.15%
$161
Apparel
3.69%
$134
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 1985
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (5.48% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–1985 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1977, at end
1977–1980
10.79%
36.0%
$136
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$178
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $150 by
1981, on its way to $178 in 1985; 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 3.2% in 1983.
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $178; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 1985: $100 is worth $178 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1985/