$100 in 1977 is worth $304 in 2003,
because prices increased 203.6% over that period, an average of
4.36% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$304
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
203.6%
Average inflation rate
4.36% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$304
Price difference ($100 base)
$204
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1977 → 2003
$304
$100 in 2003 → 1977
$32.93
What happened to prices between 1977 and 2003
Between 1977 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 203.6%, which works out to an average of
4.36% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.33 buys in 2003: the 1977 dollar
lost 67.1% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 2003 at the same ratio, 3.04: $1,000 becomes
$3,036, and $10,000 becomes $30,363.
Amount in 1977
Value in 2003
$1.00
$3.04
$5.00
$15.18
$10.00
$30.36
$20.00
$60.73
$50.00
$152
$100
$304
$500
$1,518
$1,000
$3,036
$5,000
$15,182
$10,000
$30,363
$100,000
$303,630
$1,000,000
$3,036,304
Inflation by spending category, 1977–2003
Between 1977 and 2003, medical care rose the most, up 421.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 53.8%, against 203.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.36%
$304
Medical care
6.56%
$521
Housing
4.60%
$322
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.53%
$317
Energy
3.99%
$276
Food
3.96%
$275
Transportation
3.85%
$267
Apparel
1.67%
$154
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 2003
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–2003 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
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$304
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $216 by
1990, on its way to $304 in 2003; 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 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $304; the year's average CPI of 184 is the level
behind every 2003 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.3% in 2003, up from 1.6% in 2002, as gasoline climbed from $1.36 to $1.59 a
gallon around the March invasion of Iraq. Even so, the Federal Reserve spent the year worried
about prices being too low: on June 25 it cut its policy rate to 1.0%, the lowest since 1958,
and said the risk of deflation, though small, deserved a response. The median household earned
about $43,300 and a new home cost roughly $195,000. Congress passed a second round of tax cuts
in May, and the economy grew faster in the second half of the year than at any point since
1999. Hiring lagged the recovery, and unemployment peaked at 6.3% in June. A first-class stamp
stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 2003: $100 is worth $304 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2003/