$100 in 1977 is worth $391 in 2014,
because prices increased 290.7% over that period, an average of
3.75% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$391
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
290.7%
Average inflation rate
3.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$391
Price difference ($100 base)
$291
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1977 → 2014
$391
$100 in 2014 → 1977
$25.60
What happened to prices between 1977 and 2014
Between 1977 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 290.7%, which works out to an average of
3.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.26 buys in 2014: the 1977 dollar
lost 74.4% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 2014 at the same ratio, 3.91: $1,000 becomes
$3,907, and $10,000 becomes $39,065.
Amount in 1977
Value in 2014
$1.00
$3.91
$5.00
$19.53
$10.00
$39.07
$20.00
$78.13
$50.00
$195
$100
$391
$500
$1,953
$1,000
$3,907
$5,000
$19,533
$10,000
$39,065
$100,000
$390,653
$1,000,000
$3,906,535
Inflation by spending category, 1977–2014
Between 1977 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 663.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 62.2%, against 290.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.75%
$391
Medical care
5.65%
$764
Energy
4.41%
$493
Housing
3.86%
$406
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.75%
$390
Food
3.60%
$371
Transportation
3.57%
$366
Apparel
1.32%
$162
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 2014
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$391
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $251 by
1995, on its way to $391 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $391; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 2014: $100 is worth $391 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2014/