$100 in 1977 is worth $503 in 2023,
because prices increased 402.8% over that period, an average of
3.57% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$503
in 2023
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
402.8%
Average inflation rate
3.57% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$503
Price difference ($100 base)
$403
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 2023
304.702
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 2023
4.12%
$100 in 1977 → 2023
$503
$100 in 2023 → 1977
$19.89
What happened to prices between 1977 and 2023
Between 1977 and 2023, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 304.702.
Cumulatively, prices increased 402.8%, which works out to an average of
3.57% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.20 buys in 2023: the 1977 dollar
lost 80.1% of its purchasing power over
these 46 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 2023 at the same ratio, 5.03: $1,000 becomes
$5,028, and $10,000 becomes $50,281.
Amount in 1977
Value in 2023
$1.00
$5.03
$5.00
$25.14
$10.00
$50.28
$20.00
$101
$50.00
$251
$100
$503
$500
$2,514
$1,000
$5,028
$5,000
$25,140
$10,000
$50,281
$100,000
$502,809
$1,000,000
$5,028,086
Inflation by spending category, 1977–2023
Between 1977 and 2023, medical care rose the most, up 863.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 66.1%, against 402.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 2023, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.57%
$503
Medical care
5.05%
$963
Energy
3.87%
$573
Housing
3.81%
$558
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.59%
$506
Food
3.53%
$493
Transportation
3.34%
$453
Apparel
1.11%
$166
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 2023
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–2023 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$427
2020–2023
5.59%
17.7%
$503
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $275 by
1999, on its way to $503 in 2023; 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: 2023
In 2023, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1977 had the buying
power of $503; the year's average CPI of 304.702 is the level
behind every 2023 figure on this page.
2023 was the year inflation came down without a recession. Consumer prices
rose 4.1% on average, roughly half of 2022’s 8.0%, and the December-to-December
rate fell to 3.4%. Gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon, well below the 2022
average, and supply-chain pressure on goods eased. Shelter, restaurant meals,
and other services stayed expensive, so the CPI kept rising at a rate well
above the pre-pandemic pace.
The Federal Reserve completed its rate-hiking campaign in July, taking the
policy rate to 5.25–5.50%, the highest level in 22 years. The effects showed
up in banking: Silicon Valley Bank failed in March after rate increases eroded
the value of its bond portfolio, the second-largest bank failure in U.S.
history at the time. Despite that, unemployment stayed under 4% all year.
Median household income was $80,610 according to the Census Bureau. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 66 cents
in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1977 to 2023: $100 is worth $503 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2023/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 2023. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-2023/