$100 in 1980 is worth $297 in 2017,
because prices increased 197.5% over that period, an average of
2.99% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$297
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
197.5%
Average inflation rate
2.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$297
Price difference ($100 base)
$197
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1980 → 2017
$297
$100 in 2017 → 1980
$33.62
What happened to prices between 1980 and 2017
Between 1980 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 197.5%, which works out to an average of
2.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.34 buys in 2017: the 1980 dollar
lost 66.4% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 2017 at the same ratio, 2.97: $1,000 becomes
$2,975, and $10,000 becomes $29,748.
Amount in 1980
Value in 2017
$1.00
$2.97
$5.00
$14.87
$10.00
$29.75
$20.00
$59.50
$50.00
$149
$100
$297
$500
$1,487
$1,000
$2,975
$5,000
$14,874
$10,000
$29,748
$100,000
$297,476
$1,000,000
$2,974,757
Inflation by spending category, 1980–2017
Between 1980 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 534.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 38.2%, against 197.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.99%
$297
Medical care
5.12%
$635
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.12%
$312
Housing
3.10%
$310
Food
2.90%
$288
Transportation
2.42%
$243
Energy
2.37%
$238
Apparel
0.88%
$138
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.72% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1980–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$297
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $198 by
1998, on its way to $297 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $297; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 2017: $100 is worth $297 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2017/