$100 in 1981 is worth $198 in 2002,
because prices increased 97.9% over that period, an average of
3.30% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$198
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
97.9%
Average inflation rate
3.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$198
Price difference ($100 base)
$97.91
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1981 → 2002
$198
$100 in 2002 → 1981
$50.53
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2002
Between 1981 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 97.9%, which works out to an average of
3.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.51 buys in 2002: the 1981 dollar
lost 49.5% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 2002 at the same ratio, 1.98: $1,000 becomes
$1,979, and $10,000 becomes $19,791.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2002
$1.00
$1.98
$5.00
$9.90
$10.00
$19.79
$20.00
$39.58
$50.00
$98.95
$100
$198
$500
$990
$1,000
$1,979
$5,000
$9,895
$10,000
$19,791
$100,000
$197,910
$1,000,000
$1,979,098
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2002
Between 1981 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 244.5%, while energy rose the least, up 24.6%, against 97.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.30%
$198
Medical care
6.07%
$345
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.68%
$214
Housing
3.34%
$199
Food
3.06%
$188
Transportation
2.39%
$164
Apparel
1.26%
$130
Energy
1.05%
$125
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$198
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $150 by
1991, on its way to $198 in 2002; 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 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $198; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2002: $100 is worth $198 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2002/