$100 in 1977 is worth $322 in 2005,
because prices increased 222.3% over that period, an average of
4.27% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$322
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
222.3%
Average inflation rate
4.27% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$322
Price difference ($100 base)
$222
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1977 → 2005
$322
$100 in 2005 → 1977
$31.03
What happened to prices between 1977 and 2005
Between 1977 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 222.3%, which works out to an average of
4.27% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.31 buys in 2005: the 1977 dollar
lost 69.0% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 2005 at the same ratio, 3.22: $1,000 becomes
$3,223, and $10,000 becomes $32,228.
Amount in 1977
Value in 2005
$1.00
$3.22
$5.00
$16.11
$10.00
$32.23
$20.00
$64.46
$50.00
$161
$100
$322
$500
$1,611
$1,000
$3,223
$5,000
$16,114
$10,000
$32,228
$100,000
$322,277
$1,000,000
$3,222,772
Inflation by spending category, 1977–2005
Between 1977 and 2005, medical care rose the most, up 467.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 52.0%, against 222.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.27%
$322
Medical care
6.39%
$567
Energy
4.67%
$359
Housing
4.48%
$341
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.35%
$329
Transportation
3.94%
$295
Food
3.89%
$291
Apparel
1.51%
$152
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.55% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–2005 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
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$322
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $225 by
1991, on its way to $322 in 2005; 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 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $322; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 2005: $100 is worth $322 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2005/