$100 in 1977 is worth $422 in 2019,
because prices increased 321.9% over that period, an average of
3.49% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$422
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
321.9%
Average inflation rate
3.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$422
Price difference ($100 base)
$322
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1977 → 2019
$422
$100 in 2019 → 1977
$23.70
What happened to prices between 1977 and 2019
Between 1977 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 321.9%, which works out to an average of
3.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.24 buys in 2019: the 1977 dollar
lost 76.3% of its purchasing power over
these 42 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 2019 at the same ratio, 4.22: $1,000 becomes
$4,219, and $10,000 becomes $42,188.
Amount in 1977
Value in 2019
$1.00
$4.22
$5.00
$21.09
$10.00
$42.19
$20.00
$84.38
$50.00
$211
$100
$422
$500
$2,109
$1,000
$4,219
$5,000
$21,094
$10,000
$42,188
$100,000
$421,876
$1,000,000
$4,218,762
Inflation by spending category, 1977–2019
Between 1977 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 774.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 57.8%, against 321.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.49%
$422
Medical care
5.30%
$874
Housing
3.72%
$463
Energy
3.57%
$436
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.54%
$431
Food
3.32%
$394
Transportation
3.07%
$356
Apparel
1.09%
$158
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 2019
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$422
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $265 by
1997, on its way to $422 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $422; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 2019: $100 is worth $422 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2019/