$100 in 1979 is worth $244 in 2001,
because prices increased 143.9% over that period, an average of
4.14% a year.
$100 in 1979 has
the same buying power as
$244
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
143.9%
Average inflation rate
4.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$244
Price difference ($100 base)
$144
CPI in 1979
72.6
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1979
11.35%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1979 → 2001
$244
$100 in 2001 → 1979
$40.99
What happened to prices between 1979 and 2001
Between 1979 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 72.6 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 143.9%, which works out to an average of
4.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1979 bought what
$0.41 buys in 2001: the 1979 dollar
lost 59.0% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 2001 at the same ratio, 2.44: $1,000 becomes
$2,439, and $10,000 becomes $24,394.
Amount in 1979
Value in 2001
$1.00
$2.44
$5.00
$12.20
$10.00
$24.39
$20.00
$48.79
$50.00
$122
$100
$244
$500
$1,220
$1,000
$2,439
$5,000
$12,197
$10,000
$24,394
$100,000
$243,939
$1,000,000
$2,439,394
Inflation by spending category, 1979–2001
Between 1979 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 304.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 49.9%, against 143.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1979
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1979 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.14%
$244
Medical care
6.55%
$404
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.42%
$259
Housing
4.28%
$252
Transportation
3.62%
$219
Food
3.58%
$217
Energy
3.13%
$197
Apparel
1.86%
$150
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1979: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1979 to 2001
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 1979–2001 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
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$244
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1979
$100 from 1979 had already become $180 by
1990, on its way to $244 in 2001; 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 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1979 had the buying
power of $244; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1979 to 2001: $100 is worth $244 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1979 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2001/