What is $1 from 1979 worth today?
$1 in 1979 is worth $4.64 in September 2026, based on the official Consumer Price Index. Prices have risen 364% since 1979, an average of 3.30% a year over 47 years. In other words, prices have doubled about 2.2 times, and a dollar today buys 21.5% of what it bought in 1979.
The same ratio applies to any amount: $20 from 1979 is worth $92.82, $100 is worth $464.10 and $1,000 is worth $4,641 in today's dollars.
Inflation in 1979
The CPI-U averaged 72.6 in 1979, up 11.3% from 65.2 in 1978. From December 1978 to December 1979, prices rose 13.3%. This was the period of the 1979 oil shock. Ranked by annual inflation, 1979 is number 7 of the 112 years from 1914 to 2025.
In the 1970s, annual inflation averaged 7.1% a year. The highest rate was 11.3% in 1979 and the lowest 3.2% in 1972, so 1979 had the decade's highest inflation.
1979 prices in today's money, and today's prices in 1979 money
If something cost $5 in 1979, the same buying power today is $23.21. Going the other way, $100 in September 2026 would have bought what $21.55 bought in 1979, and a $60,000 salary today has the buying power of a $12,928 salary in 1979.
If your pay in 1979 was, say, $1,000 a month, you would need about $4,641 a month in September 2026 to afford the same basket of goods and services. Remember that this is an average across consumer spending: some prices, such as housing, health care and tuition, have risen faster than the CPI, while others have risen more slowly.
How this 1979 inflation figure is calculated
The calculation divides the latest CPI-U (336.94 for September 2026) by the 1979 annual average (72.6): 336.94 ÷ 72.6 = 4.6410. Multiply any 1979 amount by 4.6410 to convert it to September 2026 dollars. The data is the CPI for All Urban Consumers, U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted (BLS series CUUR0000SA0), published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Use the calculator above to pick a specific month in 1979 or a different end date. See also $1 in 1978 and $1 in 1980. All years are on the main US inflation calculator page.