$100 in 1981 is worth $173 in 1996,
because prices increased 72.6% over that period, an average of
3.71% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$173
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
72.6%
Average inflation rate
3.71% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$173
Price difference ($100 base)
$72.61
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1981 → 1996
$173
$100 in 1996 → 1981
$57.93
What happened to prices between 1981 and 1996
Between 1981 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 72.6%, which works out to an average of
3.71% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.58 buys in 1996: the 1981 dollar
lost 42.1% of its purchasing power over
these 15 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 1996 at the same ratio, 1.73: $1,000 becomes
$1,726, and $10,000 becomes $17,261.
Amount in 1981
Value in 1996
$1.00
$1.73
$5.00
$8.63
$10.00
$17.26
$20.00
$34.52
$50.00
$86.30
$100
$173
$500
$863
$1,000
$1,726
$5,000
$8,630
$10,000
$17,261
$100,000
$172,607
$1,000,000
$1,726,073
Inflation by spending category, 1981–1996
Between 1981 and 1996, medical care rose the most, up 175.3%, while energy rose the least, up 12.7%, against 72.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.71%
$173
Medical care
6.98%
$275
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.21%
$186
Housing
3.56%
$169
Food
3.34%
$164
Transportation
2.90%
$153
Apparel
2.18%
$138
Energy
0.80%
$113
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 1996
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.09% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–1996 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1981, at end
1981–1990
4.12%
43.8%
$144
1990–1996
3.09%
20.0%
$173
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $130 by
1988, on its way to $173 in 1996; 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 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $173; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 1996: $100 is worth $173 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-1996/