$100 in 1981 is worth $144 in 1990,
because prices increased 43.8% over that period, an average of
4.12% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$144
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
43.8%
Average inflation rate
4.12% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$144
Price difference ($100 base)
$43.78
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1981 → 1990
$144
$100 in 1990 → 1981
$69.55
What happened to prices between 1981 and 1990
Between 1981 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 43.8%, which works out to an average of
4.12% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.70 buys in 1990: the 1981 dollar
lost 30.5% of its purchasing power over
these 9 years.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
Every 1981 amount converts to 1990 at the same ratio, 1.44: $1,000 becomes
$1,438, and $10,000 becomes $14,378.
Amount in 1981
Value in 1990
$1.00
$1.44
$5.00
$7.19
$10.00
$14.38
$20.00
$28.76
$50.00
$71.89
$100
$144
$500
$719
$1,000
$1,438
$5,000
$7,189
$10,000
$14,378
$100,000
$143,784
$1,000,000
$1,437,844
Inflation by spending category, 1981–1990
Between 1981 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 96.4%, while energy rose the least, up 4.5%, against 43.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.12%
$144
Medical care
7.79%
$196
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.76%
$152
Housing
3.98%
$142
Food
3.93%
$141
Apparel
2.98%
$130
Transportation
2.90%
$129
Energy
0.49%
$105
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $118 by
1985, on its way to $144 in 1990; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 6.2% in 1982, and the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $144; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 1990: $100 is worth $144 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-1990/