$100 in 1980 is worth $202 in 1999,
because prices increased 102.2% over that period, an average of
3.77% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$202
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
102.2%
Average inflation rate
3.77% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$202
Price difference ($100 base)
$102
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1980 → 1999
$202
$100 in 1999 → 1980
$49.46
What happened to prices between 1980 and 1999
Between 1980 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 102.2%, which works out to an average of
3.77% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.49 buys in 1999: the 1980 dollar
lost 50.5% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 1999 at the same ratio, 2.02: $1,000 becomes
$2,022, and $10,000 becomes $20,218.
Amount in 1980
Value in 1999
$1.00
$2.02
$5.00
$10.11
$10.00
$20.22
$20.00
$40.44
$50.00
$101
$100
$202
$500
$1,011
$1,000
$2,022
$5,000
$10,109
$10,000
$20,218
$100,000
$202,184
$1,000,000
$2,021,845
Inflation by spending category, 1980–1999
Between 1980 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 234.6%, while energy rose the least, up 24.0%, against 102.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.77%
$202
Medical care
6.56%
$335
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.21%
$219
Housing
3.77%
$202
Food
3.41%
$189
Transportation
2.95%
$174
Apparel
1.95%
$144
Energy
1.14%
$124
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 1999
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.72% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1980–1999 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1980, at end
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$159
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$202
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $150 by
1989, on its way to $202 in 1999; 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 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $202; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 1999: $100 is worth $202 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1999/