$100 in 1979 is worth $331 in 2016,
because prices increased 230.6% over that period, an average of
3.28% a year.
$100 in 1979 has
the same buying power as
$331
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
230.6%
Average inflation rate
3.28% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$331
Price difference ($100 base)
$231
CPI in 1979
72.6
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1979
11.35%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1979 → 2016
$331
$100 in 2016 → 1979
$30.25
What happened to prices between 1979 and 2016
Between 1979 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 72.6 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 230.6%, which works out to an average of
3.28% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1979 bought what
$0.30 buys in 2016: the 1979 dollar
lost 69.8% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 2016 at the same ratio, 3.31: $1,000 becomes
$3,306, and $10,000 becomes $33,059.
Amount in 1979
Value in 2016
$1.00
$3.31
$5.00
$16.53
$10.00
$33.06
$20.00
$66.12
$50.00
$165
$100
$331
$500
$1,653
$1,000
$3,306
$5,000
$16,529
$10,000
$33,059
$100,000
$330,588
$1,000,000
$3,305,882
Inflation by spending category, 1979–2016
Between 1979 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 586.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 48.5%, against 230.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1979
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1979 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.28%
$331
Medical care
5.35%
$687
Housing
3.43%
$348
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.40%
$344
Food
3.11%
$310
Energy
2.90%
$288
Transportation
2.79%
$276
Apparel
1.07%
$148
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1979: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1979 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 13.50% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1979–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$331
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1979
$100 from 1979 had already become $221 by
1997, on its way to $331 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1979 had the buying
power of $331; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1979 to 2016: $100 is worth $331 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1979 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1979-to-2016/