$100 in 1979 is worth $326 in 2014,
because prices increased 226.1% over that period, an average of
3.43% a year.
$100 in 1979 has
the same buying power as
$326
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
226.1%
Average inflation rate
3.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$326
Price difference ($100 base)
$226
CPI in 1979
72.6
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1979
11.35%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1979 → 2014
$326
$100 in 2014 → 1979
$30.67
What happened to prices between 1979 and 2014
Between 1979 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 72.6 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 226.1%, which works out to an average of
3.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1979 bought what
$0.31 buys in 2014: the 1979 dollar
lost 69.3% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 2014 at the same ratio, 3.26: $1,000 becomes
$3,261, and $10,000 becomes $32,608.
Amount in 1979
Value in 2014
$1.00
$3.26
$5.00
$16.30
$10.00
$32.61
$20.00
$65.22
$50.00
$163
$100
$326
$500
$1,630
$1,000
$3,261
$5,000
$16,304
$10,000
$32,608
$100,000
$326,083
$1,000,000
$3,260,826
Inflation by spending category, 1979–2014
Between 1979 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 544.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 50.2%, against 226.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1979
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1979 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.43%
$326
Medical care
5.47%
$645
Energy
3.81%
$371
Housing
3.49%
$333
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.48%
$331
Transportation
3.25%
$306
Food
3.23%
$304
Apparel
1.17%
$150
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1979: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1979 to 2014
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 13.50% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1979–2014 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$300
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$326
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1979
$100 from 1979 had already become $221 by
1997, on its way to $326 in 2014; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1979 had the buying
power of $326; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1979 to 2014: $100 is worth $326 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1979 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2014/