$100 in 1980 is worth $287 in 2014,
because prices increased 187.3% over that period, an average of
3.15% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$287
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
187.3%
Average inflation rate
3.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$287
Price difference ($100 base)
$187
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1980 → 2014
$287
$100 in 2014 → 1980
$34.81
What happened to prices between 1980 and 2014
Between 1980 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 187.3%, which works out to an average of
3.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.35 buys in 2014: the 1980 dollar
lost 65.2% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 2014 at the same ratio, 2.87: $1,000 becomes
$2,873, and $10,000 becomes $28,730.
Amount in 1980
Value in 2014
$1.00
$2.87
$5.00
$14.37
$10.00
$28.73
$20.00
$57.46
$50.00
$144
$100
$287
$500
$1,437
$1,000
$2,873
$5,000
$14,365
$10,000
$28,730
$100,000
$287,301
$1,000,000
$2,873,010
Inflation by spending category, 1980–2014
Between 1980 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 481.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 40.3%, against 187.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.15%
$287
Medical care
5.31%
$581
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.23%
$294
Housing
3.16%
$288
Energy
3.11%
$283
Food
3.07%
$280
Transportation
2.85%
$260
Apparel
1.00%
$140
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 2014
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.72% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1980–2014 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$265
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$287
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $190 by
1996, on its way to $287 in 2014; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $287; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 2014: $100 is worth $287 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2014/