$100 in 1981 is worth $159 in 1993,
because prices increased 59.0% over that period, an average of
3.94% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$159
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
59.0%
Average inflation rate
3.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$159
Price difference ($100 base)
$58.97
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1981 → 1993
$159
$100 in 1993 → 1981
$62.91
What happened to prices between 1981 and 1993
Between 1981 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 59.0%, which works out to an average of
3.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.63 buys in 1993: the 1981 dollar
lost 37.1% of its purchasing power over
these 12 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 1993 at the same ratio, 1.59: $1,000 becomes
$1,590, and $10,000 becomes $15,897.
Amount in 1981
Value in 1993
$1.00
$1.59
$5.00
$7.95
$10.00
$15.90
$20.00
$31.79
$50.00
$79.48
$100
$159
$500
$795
$1,000
$1,590
$5,000
$7,948
$10,000
$15,897
$100,000
$158,966
$1,000,000
$1,589,659
Inflation by spending category, 1981–1993
Between 1981 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 142.9%, while energy rose the least, up 6.7%, against 59.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.94%
$159
Medical care
7.68%
$243
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.55%
$171
Housing
3.79%
$156
Food
3.47%
$151
Apparel
2.86%
$140
Transportation
2.84%
$140
Energy
0.54%
$107
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 1993
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.40% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–1993 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1981, at end
1981–1990
4.12%
43.8%
$144
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$159
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $125 by
1987, on its way to $159 in 1993; 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 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $159; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 1993: $100 is worth $159 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-1993/