$100 in 1978 is worth $264 in 2000,
because prices increased 164.1% over that period, an average of
4.51% a year.
$100 in 1978 has
the same buying power as
$264
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
164.1%
Average inflation rate
4.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$264
Price difference ($100 base)
$164
CPI in 1978
65.2
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1978
7.59%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1978 → 2000
$264
$100 in 2000 → 1978
$37.86
What happened to prices between 1978 and 2000
Between 1978 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 65.2 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 164.1%, which works out to an average of
4.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1978 bought what
$0.38 buys in 2000: the 1978 dollar
lost 62.1% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 2000 at the same ratio, 2.64: $1,000 becomes
$2,641, and $10,000 becomes $26,411.
Amount in 1978
Value in 2000
$1.00
$2.64
$5.00
$13.21
$10.00
$26.41
$20.00
$52.82
$50.00
$132
$100
$264
$500
$1,321
$1,000
$2,641
$5,000
$13,206
$10,000
$26,411
$100,000
$264,110
$1,000,000
$2,641,104
Inflation by spending category, 1978–2000
Between 1978 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 322.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 59.2%, against 164.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1978
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1978 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.51%
$264
Medical care
6.76%
$422
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.74%
$277
Housing
4.65%
$272
Transportation
4.22%
$248
Energy
4.01%
$237
Food
3.92%
$233
Apparel
2.14%
$159
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1978: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1978 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 12.42% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1978–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$264
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1978
$100 from 1978 had already become $190 by
1989, on its way to $264 in 2000; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1978 had the buying
power of $264; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1978 to 2000: $100 is worth $264 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1978-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1978 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1978-to-2000/