$100 in 1980 is worth $245 in 2006,
because prices increased 144.7% over that period, an average of
3.50% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$245
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
144.7%
Average inflation rate
3.50% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$245
Price difference ($100 base)
$145
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1980 → 2006
$245
$100 in 2006 → 1980
$40.87
What happened to prices between 1980 and 2006
Between 1980 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 144.7%, which works out to an average of
3.50% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.41 buys in 2006: the 1980 dollar
lost 59.1% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 2006 at the same ratio, 2.45: $1,000 becomes
$2,447, and $10,000 becomes $24,466.
Amount in 1980
Value in 2006
$1.00
$2.45
$5.00
$12.23
$10.00
$24.47
$20.00
$48.93
$50.00
$122
$100
$245
$500
$1,223
$1,000
$2,447
$5,000
$12,233
$10,000
$24,466
$100,000
$244,660
$1,000,000
$2,446,602
Inflation by spending category, 1980–2006
Between 1980 and 2006, medical care rose the most, up 348.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 31.5%, against 144.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.50%
$245
Medical care
5.95%
$449
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.66%
$255
Housing
3.60%
$251
Energy
3.24%
$229
Food
3.17%
$225
Transportation
3.04%
$218
Apparel
1.06%
$131
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.72% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.66% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1980–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$245
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $175 by
1993, on its way to $245 in 2006; 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 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $245; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 2006: $100 is worth $245 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2006/