$100 in 1980 is worth $218 in 2002,
because prices increased 118.3% over that period, an average of
3.61% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$218
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
118.3%
Average inflation rate
3.61% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$218
Price difference ($100 base)
$118
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1980 → 2002
$218
$100 in 2002 → 1980
$45.80
What happened to prices between 1980 and 2002
Between 1980 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 118.3%, which works out to an average of
3.61% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.46 buys in 2002: the 1980 dollar
lost 54.2% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 2002 at the same ratio, 2.18: $1,000 becomes
$2,183, and $10,000 becomes $21,833.
Amount in 1980
Value in 2002
$1.00
$2.18
$5.00
$10.92
$10.00
$21.83
$20.00
$43.67
$50.00
$109
$100
$218
$500
$1,092
$1,000
$2,183
$5,000
$10,916
$10,000
$21,833
$100,000
$218,325
$1,000,000
$2,183,252
Inflation by spending category, 1980–2002
Between 1980 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 281.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 36.4%, against 118.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.61%
$218
Medical care
6.27%
$381
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.98%
$236
Housing
3.70%
$222
Food
3.27%
$203
Transportation
2.81%
$184
Energy
1.59%
$142
Apparel
1.42%
$136
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.72% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1980–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$218
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $165 by
1991, on its way to $218 in 2002; 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 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $218; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 2002: $100 is worth $218 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2002/