$100 in 1977 is worth $245 in 1994,
because prices increased 144.6% over that period, an average of
5.40% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$245
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
144.6%
Average inflation rate
5.40% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$245
Price difference ($100 base)
$145
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1977 → 1994
$245
$100 in 1994 → 1977
$40.89
What happened to prices between 1977 and 1994
Between 1977 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 144.6%, which works out to an average of
5.40% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.41 buys in 1994: the 1977 dollar
lost 59.1% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 1994 at the same ratio, 2.45: $1,000 becomes
$2,446, and $10,000 becomes $24,455.
Amount in 1977
Value in 1994
$1.00
$2.45
$5.00
$12.23
$10.00
$24.46
$20.00
$48.91
$50.00
$122
$100
$245
$500
$1,223
$1,000
$2,446
$5,000
$12,228
$10,000
$24,455
$100,000
$244,554
$1,000,000
$2,445,545
Inflation by spending category, 1977–1994
Between 1977 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 270.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 69.7%, against 144.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.40%
$245
Medical care
8.00%
$370
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.70%
$257
Housing
5.59%
$252
Transportation
4.96%
$228
Food
4.76%
$220
Energy
4.51%
$212
Apparel
3.16%
$170
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 1994
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.19% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$245
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $178 by
1985, on its way to $245 in 1994; 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 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $245; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 1994: $100 is worth $245 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1994/