$100 in 1977 is worth $379 in 2012,
because prices increased 278.9% over that period, an average of
3.88% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$379
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
278.9%
Average inflation rate
3.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$379
Price difference ($100 base)
$279
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1977 → 2012
$379
$100 in 2012 → 1977
$26.39
What happened to prices between 1977 and 2012
Between 1977 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 278.9%, which works out to an average of
3.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.26 buys in 2012: the 1977 dollar
lost 73.6% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 2012 at the same ratio, 3.79: $1,000 becomes
$3,789, and $10,000 becomes $37,887.
Amount in 1977
Value in 2012
$1.00
$3.79
$5.00
$18.94
$10.00
$37.89
$20.00
$75.77
$50.00
$189
$100
$379
$500
$1,894
$1,000
$3,789
$5,000
$18,943
$10,000
$37,887
$100,000
$378,868
$1,000,000
$3,788,680
Inflation by spending category, 1977–2012
Between 1977 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 627.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 60.6%, against 278.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.88%
$379
Medical care
5.84%
$728
Energy
4.69%
$498
Housing
3.95%
$388
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.86%
$377
Transportation
3.80%
$368
Food
3.70%
$357
Apparel
1.36%
$161
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 2012
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 1977–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$379
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $251 by
1995, on its way to $379 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $379; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 2012: $100 is worth $379 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2012/