$100 in 1980 is worth $198 in 1998,
because prices increased 97.8% over that period, an average of
3.86% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$198
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
97.8%
Average inflation rate
3.86% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$198
Price difference ($100 base)
$97.82
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1980 → 1998
$198
$100 in 1998 → 1980
$50.55
What happened to prices between 1980 and 1998
Between 1980 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 97.8%, which works out to an average of
3.86% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.51 buys in 1998: the 1980 dollar
lost 49.4% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 1998 at the same ratio, 1.98: $1,000 becomes
$1,978, and $10,000 becomes $19,782.
Amount in 1980
Value in 1998
$1.00
$1.98
$5.00
$9.89
$10.00
$19.78
$20.00
$39.56
$50.00
$98.91
$100
$198
$500
$989
$1,000
$1,978
$5,000
$9,891
$10,000
$19,782
$100,000
$197,816
$1,000,000
$1,978,155
Inflation by spending category, 1980–1998
Between 1980 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 223.2%, while energy rose the least, up 19.7%, against 97.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.86%
$198
Medical care
6.73%
$323
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.33%
$215
Housing
3.86%
$198
Food
3.48%
$185
Transportation
3.01%
$170
Apparel
2.14%
$146
Energy
1.00%
$120
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 1998
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.72% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1980–1998 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1980, at end
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$159
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$198
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $150 by
1989, on its way to $198 in 1998; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $198; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 1998: $100 is worth $198 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1998/