$100 in 1979 is worth $237 in 2000,
because prices increased 137.2% over that period, an average of
4.20% a year.
$100 in 1979 has
the same buying power as
$237
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
137.2%
Average inflation rate
4.20% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$237
Price difference ($100 base)
$137
CPI in 1979
72.6
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1979
11.35%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1979 → 2000
$237
$100 in 2000 → 1979
$42.16
What happened to prices between 1979 and 2000
Between 1979 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 72.6 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 137.2%, which works out to an average of
4.20% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1979 bought what
$0.42 buys in 2000: the 1979 dollar
lost 57.8% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 2000 at the same ratio, 2.37: $1,000 becomes
$2,372, and $10,000 becomes $23,719.
Amount in 1979
Value in 2000
$1.00
$2.37
$5.00
$11.86
$10.00
$23.72
$20.00
$47.44
$50.00
$119
$100
$237
$500
$1,186
$1,000
$2,372
$5,000
$11,860
$10,000
$23,719
$100,000
$237,190
$1,000,000
$2,371,901
Inflation by spending category, 1979–2000
Between 1979 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 286.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 52.7%, against 137.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1979
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1979 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.20%
$237
Medical care
6.65%
$386
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.50%
$252
Housing
4.30%
$242
Transportation
3.77%
$217
Food
3.60%
$210
Energy
3.09%
$190
Apparel
2.03%
$153
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1979: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1979 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 13.50% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1979–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$237
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1979
$100 from 1979 had already become $171 by
1989, on its way to $237 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 1979 had the buying
power of $237; 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 1979 to 2000: $100 is worth $237 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1979 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2000/