$100 in 1981 is worth $150 in 1991,
because prices increased 49.8% over that period, an average of
4.13% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$150
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
49.8%
Average inflation rate
4.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$150
Price difference ($100 base)
$49.83
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1981 → 1991
$150
$100 in 1991 → 1981
$66.74
What happened to prices between 1981 and 1991
Between 1981 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 49.8%, which works out to an average of
4.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.67 buys in 1991: the 1981 dollar
lost 33.3% of its purchasing power over
these 10 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 1991 at the same ratio, 1.50: $1,000 becomes
$1,498, and $10,000 becomes $14,983.
Amount in 1981
Value in 1991
$1.00
$1.50
$5.00
$7.49
$10.00
$14.98
$20.00
$29.97
$50.00
$74.92
$100
$150
$500
$749
$1,000
$1,498
$5,000
$7,492
$10,000
$14,983
$100,000
$149,835
$1,000,000
$1,498,350
Inflation by spending category, 1981–1991
Between 1981 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 113.5%, while energy rose the least, up 4.9%, against 49.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.13%
$150
Medical care
7.88%
$214
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.77%
$159
Housing
3.98%
$148
Food
3.83%
$146
Apparel
3.05%
$135
Transportation
2.88%
$133
Energy
0.48%
$105
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 4.21% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–1991 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1981, at end
1981–1990
4.12%
43.8%
$144
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$150
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $121 by
1986, on its way to $150 in 1991; 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 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $150; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 1991: $100 is worth $150 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-1991/