$100 in 1979 is worth $248 in 2002,
because prices increased 147.8% over that period, an average of
4.02% a year.
$100 in 1979 has
the same buying power as
$248
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
147.8%
Average inflation rate
4.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$248
Price difference ($100 base)
$148
CPI in 1979
72.6
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1979
11.35%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1979 → 2002
$248
$100 in 2002 → 1979
$40.36
What happened to prices between 1979 and 2002
Between 1979 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 72.6 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 147.8%, which works out to an average of
4.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1979 bought what
$0.40 buys in 2002: the 1979 dollar
lost 59.6% of its purchasing power over
these 23 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 2002 at the same ratio, 2.48: $1,000 becomes
$2,478, and $10,000 becomes $24,780.
Amount in 1979
Value in 2002
$1.00
$2.48
$5.00
$12.39
$10.00
$24.78
$20.00
$49.56
$50.00
$124
$100
$248
$500
$1,239
$1,000
$2,478
$5,000
$12,390
$10,000
$24,780
$100,000
$247,796
$1,000,000
$2,477,961
Inflation by spending category, 1979–2002
Between 1979 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 323.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 46.1%, against 147.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1979
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1979 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.02%
$248
Medical care
6.47%
$423
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.33%
$265
Housing
4.19%
$257
Food
3.50%
$221
Transportation
3.42%
$217
Energy
2.72%
$185
Apparel
1.66%
$146
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1979: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1979 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 13.50% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1979–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$248
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1979
$100 from 1979 had already become $180 by
1990, on its way to $248 in 2002; 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 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1979 had the buying
power of $248; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1979 to 2002: $100 is worth $248 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1979 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2002/