$100 in 1980 is worth $185 in 1995,
because prices increased 85.0% over that period, an average of
4.18% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$185
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
85.0%
Average inflation rate
4.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$185
Price difference ($100 base)
$84.95
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1980 → 1995
$185
$100 in 1995 → 1980
$54.07
What happened to prices between 1980 and 1995
Between 1980 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 85.0%, which works out to an average of
4.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.54 buys in 1995: the 1980 dollar
lost 45.9% of its purchasing power over
these 15 years.
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.
Every 1980 amount converts to 1995 at the same ratio, 1.85: $1,000 becomes
$1,850, and $10,000 becomes $18,495.
Amount in 1980
Value in 1995
$1.00
$1.85
$5.00
$9.25
$10.00
$18.50
$20.00
$36.99
$50.00
$92.48
$100
$185
$500
$925
$1,000
$1,850
$5,000
$9,248
$10,000
$18,495
$100,000
$184,951
$1,000,000
$1,849,515
Inflation by spending category, 1980–1995
Between 1980 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 194.4%, while energy rose the least, up 22.3%, against 85.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.18%
$185
Medical care
7.46%
$294
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.71%
$200
Housing
4.12%
$183
Food
3.64%
$171
Transportation
3.49%
$167
Apparel
2.52%
$145
Energy
1.35%
$122
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.72% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1980–1995 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1980, at end
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$159
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$185
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $138 by
1987, on its way to $185 in 1995; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 10.3% in 1981, and the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $185; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 1995: $100 is worth $185 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1995/