The world in 1978
What was a dollar worth in 1978?
If you were born in 1978, here's what your money could do — and how much it has changed since.
−79%
That's how much value the dollar has lost since 1978.
$1 back then is worth about $4.84 today.
$1 back then is worth about $4.84 today.
🍔 Same money, 1978 vs. today
The same money buys you one plate today — a burger, a coffee and a gallon of gas. Here's how many it bought in 1978.
vs
1978
4.8×
plates
$21 bought 4.8 full plates in 1978
Today
1×
plate
$21 buys just 1 plate now
💰 The full breakdown
What $1,000 bought in 1978 — vs. today.
Gallons of gas409% more back then
1978
1,587 gal
today
312 gal
Fast-food burger meals (est.)383% more back then
1978
806 meals
today
167 meals
Hours of min-wage work173% more back then
1978
377 hrs
today
138 hrs
Postage stamps387% more back then
1978
6,667 stamps
today
1,370 stamps
🏠 And a home…
🏠A median home
×7.6 since 1978
Prices: U.S. BLS (CPI, milk, coffee) · EIA (gas) · DOL (minimum wage) · USPS (stamps) · Census (home). Burger meal estimated from inflation. Yearly averages.
Want your exact day?
See the history, the famous birthdays and the economy of the exact day you were born.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure here is a yearly average from public U.S. government data, free for anyone to use.
The dollar & inflation · BLS
The change in a dollar's value is the ratio of the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) then and now, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Gas, homes & wages
Average retail gasoline price (U.S. EIA), median home sales price (U.S. Census Bureau) and the federal minimum wage (U.S. Dept. of Labor). All public domain.
For general informational and entertainment purposes only — not financial advice. Figures are yearly averages and rounded; actual prices varied by month and region.