$100 in 1978 is worth $215 in 1992,
because prices increased 115.2% over that period, an average of
5.63% a year.
$100 in 1978 has
the same buying power as
$215
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
115.2%
Average inflation rate
5.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$215
Price difference ($100 base)
$115
CPI in 1978
65.2
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1978
7.59%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1978 → 1992
$215
$100 in 1992 → 1978
$46.47
What happened to prices between 1978 and 1992
Between 1978 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 65.2 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 115.2%, which works out to an average of
5.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1978 bought what
$0.46 buys in 1992: the 1978 dollar
lost 53.5% of its purchasing power over
these 14 years.
Consumer prices rose 7.6% in 1978, accelerating for a second straight year as
rising wages, a weakening dollar, and climbing energy costs outpaced the
Federal Reserve’s response. Fed chairman G. William Miller, appointed by
Carter that March, kept interest rates too low to slow the trend, a policy
later cited as one reason inflation kept building toward the following year’s
crisis. California voters responded to their own version of the problem that
June, passing Proposition 13 by nearly two to one to cap property tax rates
after years of rising home values had pushed tax bills up alongside them.
Foreign policy delivered one of the decade’s genuine breakthroughs: President
Carter brought Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin together for thirteen days of negotiations at Camp David that
September, producing a framework for peace between the two countries that was
signed as a treaty the following March. First-class postage rose to 15 cents
that May 29, a rate that would hold longer than any other in the decade. The
year ended in tragedy: cult leader Jim Jones directed the mass murder-suicide
of more than 900 followers at a remote settlement in Guyana that November 18.
A median household earned $15,064 in 1978, a new home sold for a median
$55,700, and gas averaged 63 cents a gallon. Consumer prices stood 558.6%
above their 1913 level, with the decade’s worst inflation
still to come.
Every 1978 amount converts to 1992 at the same ratio, 2.15: $1,000 becomes
$2,152, and $10,000 becomes $21,518.
Amount in 1978
Value in 1992
$1.00
$2.15
$5.00
$10.76
$10.00
$21.52
$20.00
$43.04
$50.00
$108
$100
$215
$500
$1,076
$1,000
$2,152
$5,000
$10,759
$10,000
$21,518
$100,000
$215,184
$1,000,000
$2,151,840
Inflation by spending category, 1978–1992
Between 1978 and 1992, medical care rose the most, up 207.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 62.0%, against 115.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1978
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1978 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.63%
$215
Medical care
8.36%
$308
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.96%
$225
Housing
5.81%
$220
Transportation
5.26%
$205
Energy
4.93%
$196
Food
4.75%
$192
Apparel
3.51%
$162
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1978: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1978 to 1992
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 12.42% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1978–1992 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1978, at end
1978–1980
12.42%
26.4%
$126
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$200
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$215
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1978
$100 from 1978 had already become $165 by
1985, on its way to $215 in 1992; 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 the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1978 had the buying
power of $215; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1978 to 1992: $100 is worth $215 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1978-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1978 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1978-to-1992/