$100 in 1977 is worth $396 in 2016,
because prices increased 296.1% over that period, an average of
3.59% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$396
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
296.1%
Average inflation rate
3.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$396
Price difference ($100 base)
$296
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1977 → 2016
$396
$100 in 2016 → 1977
$25.25
What happened to prices between 1977 and 2016
Between 1977 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 296.1%, which works out to an average of
3.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.25 buys in 2016: the 1977 dollar
lost 74.8% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 2016 at the same ratio, 3.96: $1,000 becomes
$3,961, and $10,000 becomes $39,605.
Amount in 1977
Value in 2016
$1.00
$3.96
$5.00
$19.80
$10.00
$39.61
$20.00
$79.21
$50.00
$198
$100
$396
$500
$1,980
$1,000
$3,961
$5,000
$19,803
$10,000
$39,605
$100,000
$396,051
$1,000,000
$3,960,512
Inflation by spending category, 1977–2016
Between 1977 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 713.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 60.4%, against 296.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.59%
$396
Medical care
5.52%
$813
Housing
3.78%
$425
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.66%
$406
Energy
3.51%
$384
Food
3.47%
$379
Transportation
3.11%
$330
Apparel
1.22%
$160
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$396
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $265 by
1997, on its way to $396 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $396; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 2016: $100 is worth $396 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2016/