Inflation Rate in 1979

What happened to inflation in 1979

A second oil shock, following the Iranian Revolution, drove inflation back toward double digits and set the stage for the early-1980s peak.

In 1979, inflation ran at 11.25%, up from 7.63% in 1978. That made it the 2nd-highest of the 65 years on record, and above the long-run average of 3.76%. For comparison, inflation sits at about 2.95% today.

What 1979's money is worth today

A rate is abstract until it's a price tag. Using the Consumer Price Index, here's what a given sum of 1979 dollars would have to grow to in order to buy the same goods today — the cumulative effect of every year of inflation in between:

Cumulative inflation since 1979 comes to about 332% — prices have risen roughly 4.3× over that span. Put another way, $100 today had the buying power of about $23 in 1979. To run your own figure across any two years, use the inflation calculator.

How 1979 compared

Across the full 1960–2024 record, inflation has averaged about 3.76%, so 1979 ran above that long-run norm. Within the 1970s, inflation averaged roughly 7.09%, and 1979 sat above its own decade. Five years earlier, in 1974, the rate was 11.05%. The following year, 1980, inflation rose to 13.55%.

This is one year out of the whole story. For the complete history — every year since 1960, the all-time high and the deflation low, the decade-by-decade view, and what drives inflation over time — see historical inflation rates, 1960–today.