$100 in 1979 is worth $297 in 2008,
because prices increased 196.6% over that period, an average of
3.82% a year.
$100 in 1979 has
the same buying power as
$297
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
196.6%
Average inflation rate
3.82% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$297
Price difference ($100 base)
$197
CPI in 1979
72.6
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1979
11.35%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1979 → 2008
$297
$100 in 2008 → 1979
$33.72
What happened to prices between 1979 and 2008
Between 1979 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 72.6 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 196.6%, which works out to an average of
3.82% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1979 bought what
$0.34 buys in 2008: the 1979 dollar
lost 66.3% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 2008 at the same ratio, 2.97: $1,000 becomes
$2,966, and $10,000 becomes $29,656.
Amount in 1979
Value in 2008
$1.00
$2.97
$5.00
$14.83
$10.00
$29.66
$20.00
$59.31
$50.00
$148
$100
$297
$500
$1,483
$1,000
$2,966
$5,000
$14,828
$10,000
$29,656
$100,000
$296,561
$1,000,000
$2,965,606
Inflation by spending category, 1979–2008
Between 1979 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 439.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 40.1%, against 196.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1979
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1979 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.82%
$297
Medical care
5.98%
$539
Energy
4.52%
$360
Housing
3.96%
$309
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.86%
$300
Transportation
3.58%
$277
Food
3.46%
$268
Apparel
1.17%
$140
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1979: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1979 to 2008
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 1979–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$297
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1979
$100 from 1979 had already become $199 by
1993, on its way to $297 in 2008; 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 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1979 had the buying
power of $297; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1979 to 2008: $100 is worth $297 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1979 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2008/