$100 in 1977 is worth $238 in 1993,
because prices increased 138.4% over that period, an average of
5.58% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$238
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
138.4%
Average inflation rate
5.58% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$238
Price difference ($100 base)
$138
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1977 → 1993
$238
$100 in 1993 → 1977
$41.94
What happened to prices between 1977 and 1993
Between 1977 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 138.4%, which works out to an average of
5.58% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.42 buys in 1993: the 1977 dollar
lost 58.1% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 1993 at the same ratio, 2.38: $1,000 becomes
$2,384, and $10,000 becomes $23,845.
Amount in 1977
Value in 1993
$1.00
$2.38
$5.00
$11.92
$10.00
$23.84
$20.00
$47.69
$50.00
$119
$100
$238
$500
$1,192
$1,000
$2,384
$5,000
$11,922
$10,000
$23,845
$100,000
$238,449
$1,000,000
$2,384,488
Inflation by spending category, 1977–1993
Between 1977 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 253.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 70.1%, against 138.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.58%
$238
Medical care
8.21%
$353
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.88%
$250
Housing
5.79%
$246
Transportation
5.08%
$221
Food
4.90%
$215
Energy
4.78%
$211
Apparel
3.38%
$170
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 1993
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.40% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–1993 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
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$238
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $178 by
1985, on its way to $238 in 1993; 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 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $238; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 1993: $100 is worth $238 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1993/