$100 in 1980 is worth $261 in 2008,
because prices increased 161.3% over that period, an average of
3.49% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$261
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
161.3%
Average inflation rate
3.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$261
Price difference ($100 base)
$161
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1980 → 2008
$261
$100 in 2008 → 1980
$38.27
What happened to prices between 1980 and 2008
Between 1980 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 161.3%, which works out to an average of
3.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.38 buys in 2008: the 1980 dollar
lost 61.7% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 2008 at the same ratio, 2.61: $1,000 becomes
$2,613, and $10,000 becomes $26,129.
Amount in 1980
Value in 2008
$1.00
$2.61
$5.00
$13.06
$10.00
$26.13
$20.00
$52.26
$50.00
$131
$100
$261
$500
$1,306
$1,000
$2,613
$5,000
$13,065
$10,000
$26,129
$100,000
$261,290
$1,000,000
$2,612,900
Inflation by spending category, 1980–2008
Between 1980 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 386.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 30.8%, against 161.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.49%
$261
Medical care
5.81%
$486
Energy
3.68%
$275
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.57%
$267
Housing
3.56%
$267
Food
3.28%
$247
Transportation
3.10%
$235
Apparel
0.96%
$131
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 2008
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 1980–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$261
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $180 by
1994, on its way to $261 in 2008; 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 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $261; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 2008: $100 is worth $261 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2008/