$100 in 1979 is worth $193 in 1992,
because prices increased 93.3% over that period, an average of
5.20% a year.
$100 in 1979 has
the same buying power as
$193
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
93.3%
Average inflation rate
5.20% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$193
Price difference ($100 base)
$93.25
CPI in 1979
72.6
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1979
11.35%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1979 → 1992
$193
$100 in 1992 → 1979
$51.75
What happened to prices between 1979 and 1992
Between 1979 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 72.6 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 93.3%, which works out to an average of
5.20% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1979 bought what
$0.52 buys in 1992: the 1979 dollar
lost 48.3% of its purchasing power over
these 13 years.
Consumer prices rose 11.3% in 1979, the fastest pace since 1947 and the
decade’s second bout of double-digit inflation after 1974’s
11.0%. The trigger was familiar: the Iranian Revolution that January halted
Iran’s oil exports, and panic buying amplified the shortage, sending crude
prices sharply higher over the year and motorists back into gas lines, with
some states reviving the odd-even rationing last seen in 1974. Paul Volcker,
appointed Federal Reserve chairman that August, responded with a strategy
shift announced that October: the Fed would target the money supply directly
and let interest rates rise as high as necessary to break inflation, whatever
the short-term cost. That cost would arrive as a deep recession in 1981-82,
but by year’s end 1979 had already delivered enough turmoil on its own. A
reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
suffered a partial core meltdown that March 28, the worst commercial nuclear
accident in U.S. history, and on November 4, militants in Tehran stormed the
U.S. embassy and took 52 Americans hostage, beginning a 444-day crisis that
consumed the rest of Carter’s presidency. A median household earned $16,461
in 1979, a new home sold for a median $62,900, and gas jumped to 86 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices finished the decade 97.8% above where they stood in
1969, very nearly doubling in ten years, and stood 633.3%
above their 1913 level. The 1970s had opened with inflation
cooling from the 1969 spike and closed with prices rising faster than at any
point since 1947, setting up the Great
Inflation’s final act in 1980.
Every 1979 amount converts to 1992 at the same ratio, 1.93: $1,000 becomes
$1,933, and $10,000 becomes $19,325.
Amount in 1979
Value in 1992
$1.00
$1.93
$5.00
$9.66
$10.00
$19.33
$20.00
$38.65
$50.00
$96.63
$100
$193
$500
$966
$1,000
$1,933
$5,000
$9,663
$10,000
$19,325
$100,000
$193,251
$1,000,000
$1,932,507
Inflation by spending category, 1979–1992
Between 1979 and 1992, medical care rose the most, up 181.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 55.4%, against 93.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1979
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1979 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.20%
$193
Medical care
8.29%
$282
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.67%
$205
Housing
5.32%
$196
Transportation
4.60%
$179
Food
4.29%
$173
Energy
3.52%
$157
Apparel
3.45%
$155
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1979: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1979 to 1992
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 13.50% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1979–1992 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1979, at end
1979–1980
13.50%
13.5%
$113
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$180
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$193
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1979
$100 from 1979 had already become $148 by
1985, on its way to $193 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 1979 had the buying
power of $193; 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 1979 to 1992: $100 is worth $193 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1979 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-1992/