$100 in 1977 is worth $275 in 1999,
because prices increased 174.9% over that period, an average of
4.70% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$275
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
174.9%
Average inflation rate
4.70% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$275
Price difference ($100 base)
$175
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1977 → 1999
$275
$100 in 1999 → 1977
$36.37
What happened to prices between 1977 and 1999
Between 1977 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 174.9%, which works out to an average of
4.70% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.36 buys in 1999: the 1977 dollar
lost 63.6% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 1999 at the same ratio, 2.75: $1,000 becomes
$2,749, and $10,000 becomes $27,492.
Amount in 1977
Value in 1999
$1.00
$2.75
$5.00
$13.75
$10.00
$27.49
$20.00
$54.98
$50.00
$137
$100
$275
$500
$1,375
$1,000
$2,749
$5,000
$13,746
$10,000
$27,492
$100,000
$274,917
$1,000,000
$2,749,175
Inflation by spending category, 1977–1999
Between 1977 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 339.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 67.0%, against 174.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.70%
$275
Medical care
6.96%
$440
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.96%
$290
Housing
4.88%
$286
Food
4.26%
$251
Transportation
4.15%
$245
Energy
3.56%
$216
Apparel
2.36%
$167
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 1999
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$275
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $195 by
1988, on its way to $275 in 1999; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $275; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 1999: $100 is worth $275 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1999/