$100 in 1977 is worth $360 in 2010,
because prices increased 259.8% over that period, an average of
3.96% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$360
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
259.8%
Average inflation rate
3.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$360
Price difference ($100 base)
$260
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1977 → 2010
$360
$100 in 2010 → 1977
$27.79
What happened to prices between 1977 and 2010
Between 1977 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 259.8%, which works out to an average of
3.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.28 buys in 2010: the 1977 dollar
lost 72.2% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 2010 at the same ratio, 3.60: $1,000 becomes
$3,598, and $10,000 becomes $35,983.
Amount in 1977
Value in 2010
$1.00
$3.60
$5.00
$17.99
$10.00
$35.98
$20.00
$71.97
$50.00
$180
$100
$360
$500
$1,799
$1,000
$3,598
$5,000
$17,991
$10,000
$35,983
$100,000
$359,828
$1,000,000
$3,598,284
Inflation by spending category, 1977–2010
Between 1977 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 581.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 52.0%, against 259.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.96%
$360
Medical care
5.99%
$681
Energy
4.50%
$428
Housing
4.10%
$377
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.98%
$363
Food
3.73%
$335
Transportation
3.66%
$328
Apparel
1.28%
$152
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 2010
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$360
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $238 by
1993, on its way to $360 in 2010; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $360; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 2010: $100 is worth $360 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2010/