$100 in 1980 is worth $291 in 2016,
because prices increased 191.3% over that period, an average of
3.01% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$291
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
191.3%
Average inflation rate
3.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$291
Price difference ($100 base)
$191
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1980 → 2016
$291
$100 in 2016 → 1980
$34.33
What happened to prices between 1980 and 2016
Between 1980 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 191.3%, which works out to an average of
3.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.34 buys in 2016: the 1980 dollar
lost 65.7% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 2016 at the same ratio, 2.91: $1,000 becomes
$2,913, and $10,000 becomes $29,127.
Amount in 1980
Value in 2016
$1.00
$2.91
$5.00
$14.56
$10.00
$29.13
$20.00
$58.25
$50.00
$146
$100
$291
$500
$1,456
$1,000
$2,913
$5,000
$14,564
$10,000
$29,127
$100,000
$291,271
$1,000,000
$2,912,706
Inflation by spending category, 1980–2016
Between 1980 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 519.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 38.7%, against 191.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.01%
$291
Medical care
5.19%
$619
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.16%
$306
Housing
3.11%
$301
Food
2.96%
$286
Transportation
2.40%
$235
Energy
2.22%
$220
Apparel
0.91%
$139
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.72% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1980–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$291
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $198 by
1998, on its way to $291 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $291; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 2016: $100 is worth $291 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2016/