$100 in 1980 is worth $209 in 2000,
because prices increased 109.0% over that period, an average of
3.75% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$209
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
109.0%
Average inflation rate
3.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$209
Price difference ($100 base)
$109
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1980 → 2000
$209
$100 in 2000 → 1980
$47.85
What happened to prices between 1980 and 2000
Between 1980 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 109.0%, which works out to an average of
3.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.48 buys in 2000: the 1980 dollar
lost 52.1% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 2000 at the same ratio, 2.09: $1,000 becomes
$2,090, and $10,000 becomes $20,898.
Amount in 1980
Value in 2000
$1.00
$2.09
$5.00
$10.45
$10.00
$20.90
$20.00
$41.80
$50.00
$104
$100
$209
$500
$1,045
$1,000
$2,090
$5,000
$10,449
$10,000
$20,898
$100,000
$208,981
$1,000,000
$2,089,806
Inflation by spending category, 1980–2000
Between 1980 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 248.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 42.6%, against 109.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.75%
$209
Medical care
6.44%
$348
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.12%
$224
Housing
3.76%
$209
Food
3.35%
$193
Transportation
3.11%
$184
Energy
1.87%
$145
Apparel
1.79%
$143
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 2000
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 1980–2000 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1980, at end
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$159
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$209
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $159 by
1990, on its way to $209 in 2000; 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 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $209; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 2000: $100 is worth $209 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2000/