$100 in 1978 is worth $357 in 2013,
because prices increased 257.3% over that period, an average of
3.71% a year.
$100 in 1978 has
the same buying power as
$357
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
257.3%
Average inflation rate
3.71% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$357
Price difference ($100 base)
$257
CPI in 1978
65.2
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1978
7.59%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1978 → 2013
$357
$100 in 2013 → 1978
$27.99
What happened to prices between 1978 and 2013
Between 1978 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 65.2 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 257.3%, which works out to an average of
3.71% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1978 bought what
$0.28 buys in 2013: the 1978 dollar
lost 72.0% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 2013 at the same ratio, 3.57: $1,000 becomes
$3,573, and $10,000 becomes $35,730.
Amount in 1978
Value in 2013
$1.00
$3.57
$5.00
$17.86
$10.00
$35.73
$20.00
$71.46
$50.00
$179
$100
$357
$500
$1,786
$1,000
$3,573
$5,000
$17,865
$10,000
$35,730
$100,000
$357,296
$1,000,000
$3,572,960
Inflation by spending category, 1978–2013
Between 1978 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 587.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 56.5%, against 257.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1978
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1978 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.71%
$357
Medical care
5.66%
$688
Energy
4.49%
$466
Housing
3.76%
$364
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.70%
$357
Transportation
3.66%
$352
Food
3.46%
$329
Apparel
1.29%
$157
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1978: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1978 to 2013
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 12.42% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1978–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$334
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$357
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1978
$100 from 1978 had already become $241 by
1996, on its way to $357 in 2013; 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: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1978 had the buying
power of $357; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1978 to 2013: $100 is worth $357 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1978-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1978 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1978-to-2013/