$100 in 1981 is worth $168 in 1995,
because prices increased 67.7% over that period, an average of
3.76% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$168
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
67.7%
Average inflation rate
3.76% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$168
Price difference ($100 base)
$67.66
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1981 → 1995
$168
$100 in 1995 → 1981
$59.65
What happened to prices between 1981 and 1995
Between 1981 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 67.7%, which works out to an average of
3.76% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.60 buys in 1995: the 1981 dollar
lost 40.4% of its purchasing power over
these 14 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 1995 at the same ratio, 1.68: $1,000 becomes
$1,677, and $10,000 becomes $16,766.
Amount in 1981
Value in 1995
$1.00
$1.68
$5.00
$8.38
$10.00
$16.77
$20.00
$33.53
$50.00
$83.83
$100
$168
$500
$838
$1,000
$1,677
$5,000
$8,383
$10,000
$16,766
$100,000
$167,657
$1,000,000
$1,676,568
Inflation by spending category, 1981–1995
Between 1981 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 166.0%, while energy rose the least, up 7.7%, against 67.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.76%
$168
Medical care
7.24%
$266
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.32%
$181
Housing
3.61%
$164
Food
3.35%
$159
Transportation
2.90%
$149
Apparel
2.35%
$139
Energy
0.53%
$108
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–1995 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1981, at end
1981–1990
4.12%
43.8%
$144
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$168
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $130 by
1988, on its way to $168 in 1995; 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 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $168; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 1995: $100 is worth $168 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-1995/