$100 in 1981 is worth $222 in 2006,
because prices increased 121.8% over that period, an average of
3.24% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$222
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
121.8%
Average inflation rate
3.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$222
Price difference ($100 base)
$122
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1981 → 2006
$222
$100 in 2006 → 1981
$45.09
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2006
Between 1981 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 121.8%, which works out to an average of
3.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.45 buys in 2006: the 1981 dollar
lost 54.9% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 2006 at the same ratio, 2.22: $1,000 becomes
$2,218, and $10,000 becomes $22,178.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2006
$1.00
$2.22
$5.00
$11.09
$10.00
$22.18
$20.00
$44.36
$50.00
$111
$100
$222
$500
$1,109
$1,000
$2,218
$5,000
$11,089
$10,000
$22,178
$100,000
$221,782
$1,000,000
$2,217,822
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2006
Between 1981 and 2006, medical care rose the most, up 305.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 25.4%, against 121.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.24%
$222
Medical care
5.76%
$406
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.40%
$231
Housing
3.29%
$225
Food
2.98%
$209
Energy
2.84%
$202
Transportation
2.69%
$194
Apparel
0.91%
$125
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.66% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$222
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $159 by
1993, on its way to $222 in 2006; 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 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $222; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2006: $100 is worth $222 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2006/