$100 in 1980 is worth $305 in 2018,
because prices increased 204.7% over that period, an average of
2.98% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$305
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
204.7%
Average inflation rate
2.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$305
Price difference ($100 base)
$205
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1980 → 2018
$305
$100 in 2018 → 1980
$32.81
What happened to prices between 1980 and 2018
Between 1980 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 204.7%, which works out to an average of
2.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.33 buys in 2018: the 1980 dollar
lost 67.2% of its purchasing power over
these 38 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 2018 at the same ratio, 3.05: $1,000 becomes
$3,047, and $10,000 becomes $30,474.
Amount in 1980
Value in 2018
$1.00
$3.05
$5.00
$15.24
$10.00
$30.47
$20.00
$60.95
$50.00
$152
$100
$305
$500
$1,524
$1,000
$3,047
$5,000
$15,237
$10,000
$30,474
$100,000
$304,742
$1,000,000
$3,047,415
Inflation by spending category, 1980–2018
Between 1980 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 547.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 38.2%, against 204.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.98%
$305
Medical care
5.04%
$647
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.10%
$319
Housing
3.10%
$319
Food
2.86%
$292
Energy
2.50%
$256
Transportation
2.48%
$254
Apparel
0.86%
$138
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.72% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1980–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$305
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $198 by
1998, on its way to $305 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $305; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 2018: $100 is worth $305 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2018/