$100 in 1980 is worth $370 in 2023,
because prices increased 269.8% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$370
in 2023
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
269.8%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$370
Price difference ($100 base)
$270
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 2023
304.702
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 2023
4.12%
$100 in 1980 → 2023
$370
$100 in 2023 → 1980
$27.04
What happened to prices between 1980 and 2023
Between 1980 and 2023, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 304.702.
Cumulatively, prices increased 269.8%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.27 buys in 2023: the 1980 dollar
lost 73.0% of its purchasing power over
these 43 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 2023 at the same ratio, 3.70: $1,000 becomes
$3,698, and $10,000 becomes $36,978.
Amount in 1980
Value in 2023
$1.00
$3.70
$5.00
$18.49
$10.00
$36.98
$20.00
$73.96
$50.00
$185
$100
$370
$500
$1,849
$1,000
$3,698
$5,000
$18,489
$10,000
$36,978
$100,000
$369,784
$1,000,000
$3,697,840
Inflation by spending category, 1980–2023
Between 1980 and 2023, medical care rose the most, up 633.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 43.7%, against 269.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 2023, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$370
Medical care
4.74%
$733
Housing
3.24%
$395
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.16%
$382
Food
3.10%
$372
Energy
2.81%
$329
Transportation
2.75%
$321
Apparel
0.85%
$144
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1980 to 2023
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 5.59% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1980–2023 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$314
2020–2023
5.59%
17.7%
$370
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $218 by
2002, on its way to $370 in 2023; 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: 2023
In 2023, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $370; the year's average CPI of 304.702 is the level
behind every 2023 figure on this page.
2023 was the year inflation came down without a recession. Consumer prices
rose 4.1% on average, roughly half of 2022’s 8.0%, and the December-to-December
rate fell to 3.4%. Gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon, well below the 2022
average, and supply-chain pressure on goods eased. Shelter, restaurant meals,
and other services stayed expensive, so the CPI kept rising at a rate well
above the pre-pandemic pace.
The Federal Reserve completed its rate-hiking campaign in July, taking the
policy rate to 5.25–5.50%, the highest level in 22 years. The effects showed
up in banking: Silicon Valley Bank failed in March after rate increases eroded
the value of its bond portfolio, the second-largest bank failure in U.S.
history at the time. Despite that, unemployment stayed under 4% all year.
Median household income was $80,610 according to the Census Bureau. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 66 cents
in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1980 to 2023: $100 is worth $370 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2023/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 2023. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-2023/