What is $100 in 1980 worth in 1989?

$100 in 1980 has the purchasing power of about $150 in 1989, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U).

What was the average inflation rate between 1980 and 1989?

Prices rose 50.5% in total between 1980 and 1989, an average of 4.65% per year.

How much is $1 in 1980 worth today?

$1 in 1980 is equivalent to about $1.50 in 1989. Equivalently, a 1989 dollar buys what $0.66 bought in 1980.

U.S. inflation · 1980–1989

Value of $100 in 1980, adjusted to 1989

Amount From year To year

$100 in 1980 has the same buying power as

$150

in 1989

Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change	50.5%
Average inflation rate	4.65% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)	$150
Price difference ($100 base)	$50.49
CPI in 1980	82.4
CPI in 1989	124
Inflation in 1980	13.50%
Inflation in 1989	4.82%
$100 in 1980 → 1989	$150
$100 in 1989 → 1980	$66.45

What happened to prices between 1980 and 1989

Between 1980 and 1989, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 124. Cumulatively, prices increased 50.5%, which works out to an average of 4.65% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what $0.66 buys in 1989.

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 1989

Amount in 1980	Value in 1989
$1.00	$1.50
$5.00	$7.52
$10.00	$15.05
$20.00	$30.10
$50.00	$75.24
$100	$150
$500	$752
$1,000	$1,505
$5,000	$7,524
$10,000	$15,049
$100,000	$150,485
$1,000,000	$1,504,854

Inflation by spending category, 1980–1989

The headline number is an average. Individual categories moved very differently over this period. Here is what $100 of 1980 spending costs in 1989, by category:

Category	Avg. yearly inflation	$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)	4.65%	$150
Medical care	7.97%	$199
Core (all items less food & energy)	5.34%	$160
Housing	4.74%	$152
Food	4.14%	$144
Transportation	3.59%	$137
Apparel	3.00%	$130
Energy	1.03%	$110

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
1989	124	4.8%	$150

Cite this page

MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 1989: $100 is worth $150 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1989/

APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 1989. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1989/

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.