What is $100 in 1980 worth in 1988?

$100 in 1980 has the purchasing power of about $144 in 1988, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U).

What was the average inflation rate between 1980 and 1988?

Prices rose 43.6% in total between 1980 and 1988, an average of 4.62% per year.

How much is $1 in 1980 worth today?

$1 in 1980 is equivalent to about $1.44 in 1988. Equivalently, a 1988 dollar buys what $0.70 bought in 1980.

U.S. inflation · 1980–1988

Value of $100 in 1980, adjusted to 1988

Amount From year To year

$100 in 1980 has the same buying power as

$144

in 1988

Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change	43.6%
Average inflation rate	4.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)	$144
Price difference ($100 base)	$43.57
CPI in 1980	82.4
CPI in 1988	118.3
Inflation in 1980	13.50%
Inflation in 1988	4.14%
$100 in 1980 → 1988	$144
$100 in 1988 → 1980	$69.65

What happened to prices between 1980 and 1988

Between 1980 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 118.3. Cumulatively, prices increased 43.6%, which works out to an average of 4.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what $0.70 buys in 1988.

1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82 recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.

More about inflation in 1980 →

Common amounts: 1980 dollars in 1988

Amount in 1980	Value in 1988
$1.00	$1.44
$5.00	$7.18
$10.00	$14.36
$20.00	$28.71
$50.00	$71.78
$100	$144
$500	$718
$1,000	$1,436
$5,000	$7,178
$10,000	$14,357
$100,000	$143,568
$1,000,000	$1,435,680

Inflation by spending category, 1980–1988

The headline number is an average. Individual categories moved very differently over this period. Here is what $100 of 1980 spending costs in 1988, by category:

Category	Avg. yearly inflation	$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)	4.62%	$144
Medical care	8.00%	$185
Core (all items less food & energy)	5.44%	$153
Housing	4.85%	$146
Food	3.94%	$136
Transportation	3.41%	$131
Apparel	3.03%	$127
Energy	0.47%	$104

Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).

Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980

Year	CPI	Inflation rate	$100 from 1980
1980	82.4	13.5%	$100
1981	90.9	10.3%	$110
1982	96.5	6.2%	$117
1983	99.6	3.2%	$121
1984	103.9	4.3%	$126
1985	107.6	3.6%	$131
1986	109.6	1.9%	$133
1987	113.6	3.6%	$138
1988	118.3	4.1%	$144

Cite this page

MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 1988: $100 is worth $144 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1988/

APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1988/

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U annual averages (series CUUR0000SA0; category indexes listed on the data sources page). See how these numbers are calculated.