$100 in 1977 is worth $297 in 2002,
because prices increased 196.9% over that period, an average of
4.45% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$297
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
196.9%
Average inflation rate
4.45% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$297
Price difference ($100 base)
$197
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1977 → 2002
$297
$100 in 2002 → 1977
$33.69
What happened to prices between 1977 and 2002
Between 1977 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 196.9%, which works out to an average of
4.45% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.34 buys in 2002: the 1977 dollar
lost 66.3% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 2002 at the same ratio, 2.97: $1,000 becomes
$2,969, and $10,000 becomes $29,686.
Amount in 1977
Value in 2002
$1.00
$2.97
$5.00
$14.84
$10.00
$29.69
$20.00
$59.37
$50.00
$148
$100
$297
$500
$1,484
$1,000
$2,969
$5,000
$14,843
$10,000
$29,686
$100,000
$296,865
$1,000,000
$2,968,647
Inflation by spending category, 1977–2002
Between 1977 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 401.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 57.8%, against 196.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.45%
$297
Medical care
6.66%
$501
Housing
4.68%
$314
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.66%
$312
Food
4.04%
$269
Transportation
3.88%
$259
Energy
3.67%
$246
Apparel
1.84%
$158
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–2002 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$284
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$297
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $205 by
1989, on its way to $297 in 2002; 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 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $297; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 2002: $100 is worth $297 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2002/