$100 in 1981 is worth $195 in 2001,
because prices increased 94.8% over that period, an average of
3.39% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$195
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
94.8%
Average inflation rate
3.39% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$195
Price difference ($100 base)
$94.83
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1981 → 2001
$195
$100 in 2001 → 1981
$51.33
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2001
Between 1981 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 94.8%, which works out to an average of
3.39% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.51 buys in 2001: the 1981 dollar
lost 48.7% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 2001 at the same ratio, 1.95: $1,000 becomes
$1,948, and $10,000 becomes $19,483.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2001
$1.00
$1.95
$5.00
$9.74
$10.00
$19.48
$20.00
$38.97
$50.00
$97.41
$100
$195
$500
$974
$1,000
$1,948
$5,000
$9,741
$10,000
$19,483
$100,000
$194,829
$1,000,000
$1,948,295
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2001
Between 1981 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 229.1%, while energy rose the least, up 32.3%, against 94.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.39%
$195
Medical care
6.14%
$329
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.75%
$209
Housing
3.40%
$195
Food
3.12%
$185
Transportation
2.55%
$166
Apparel
1.46%
$134
Energy
1.41%
$132
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2001
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 1981–2001 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
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$195
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $150 by
1991, on its way to $195 in 2001; 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 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $195; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2001: $100 is worth $195 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2001/