$100 in 1977 is worth $333 in 2006,
because prices increased 232.7% over that period, an average of
4.23% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$333
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
232.7%
Average inflation rate
4.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$333
Price difference ($100 base)
$233
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1977 → 2006
$333
$100 in 2006 → 1977
$30.06
What happened to prices between 1977 and 2006
Between 1977 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 232.7%, which works out to an average of
4.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.30 buys in 2006: the 1977 dollar
lost 69.9% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 2006 at the same ratio, 3.33: $1,000 becomes
$3,327, and $10,000 becomes $33,267.
Amount in 1977
Value in 2006
$1.00
$3.33
$5.00
$16.63
$10.00
$33.27
$20.00
$66.53
$50.00
$166
$100
$333
$500
$1,663
$1,000
$3,327
$5,000
$16,634
$10,000
$33,267
$100,000
$332,673
$1,000,000
$3,326,733
Inflation by spending category, 1977–2006
Between 1977 and 2006, medical care rose the most, up 489.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 52.0%, against 232.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.23%
$333
Medical care
6.31%
$590
Energy
4.88%
$399
Housing
4.46%
$354
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.28%
$338
Transportation
3.94%
$307
Food
3.84%
$298
Apparel
1.46%
$152
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.66% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$333
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $225 by
1991, on its way to $333 in 2006; 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 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $333; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 2006: $100 is worth $333 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2006/