$100 in 1977 is worth $225 in 1991,
because prices increased 124.8% over that period, an average of
5.96% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$225
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
124.8%
Average inflation rate
5.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$225
Price difference ($100 base)
$125
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1977 → 1991
$225
$100 in 1991 → 1977
$44.49
What happened to prices between 1977 and 1991
Between 1977 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 124.8%, which works out to an average of
5.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.44 buys in 1991: the 1977 dollar
lost 55.5% of its purchasing power over
these 14 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 1991 at the same ratio, 2.25: $1,000 becomes
$2,248, and $10,000 becomes $22,475.
Amount in 1977
Value in 1991
$1.00
$2.25
$5.00
$11.24
$10.00
$22.48
$20.00
$44.95
$50.00
$112
$100
$225
$500
$1,124
$1,000
$2,248
$5,000
$11,238
$10,000
$22,475
$100,000
$224,752
$1,000,000
$2,247,525
Inflation by spending category, 1977–1991
Between 1977 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 210.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 63.7%, against 124.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.96%
$225
Medical care
8.43%
$311
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.23%
$233
Housing
6.22%
$233
Transportation
5.44%
$210
Food
5.37%
$208
Energy
5.35%
$207
Apparel
3.58%
$164
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (4.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–1991 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1977, at end
1977–1980
10.79%
36.0%
$136
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$216
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$225
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $171 by
1984, on its way to $225 in 1991; 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 1.9% in 1986.
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $225; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 1991: $100 is worth $225 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1991/