$100 in 1981 is worth $189 in 2000,
because prices increased 89.4% over that period, an average of
3.42% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$189
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
89.4%
Average inflation rate
3.42% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$189
Price difference ($100 base)
$89.44
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1981 → 2000
$189
$100 in 2000 → 1981
$52.79
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2000
Between 1981 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 89.4%, which works out to an average of
3.42% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.53 buys in 2000: the 1981 dollar
lost 47.2% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 2000 at the same ratio, 1.89: $1,000 becomes
$1,894, and $10,000 becomes $18,944.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2000
$1.00
$1.89
$5.00
$9.47
$10.00
$18.94
$20.00
$37.89
$50.00
$94.72
$100
$189
$500
$947
$1,000
$1,894
$5,000
$9,472
$10,000
$18,944
$100,000
$189,439
$1,000,000
$1,894,389
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2000
Between 1981 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 214.6%, while energy rose the least, up 27.5%, against 89.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.42%
$189
Medical care
6.22%
$315
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.80%
$203
Housing
3.37%
$188
Food
3.12%
$179
Transportation
2.65%
$164
Apparel
1.63%
$136
Energy
1.29%
$128
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–2000 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1981, at end
1981–1990
4.12%
43.8%
$144
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$189
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $144 by
1990, on its way to $189 in 2000; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $189; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2000: $100 is worth $189 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2000/