$100 in 1981 is worth $228 in 2007,
because prices increased 128.1% over that period, an average of
3.22% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$228
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
128.1%
Average inflation rate
3.22% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$228
Price difference ($100 base)
$128
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1981 → 2007
$228
$100 in 2007 → 1981
$43.84
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2007
Between 1981 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 128.1%, which works out to an average of
3.22% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.44 buys in 2007: the 1981 dollar
lost 56.2% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 2007 at the same ratio, 2.28: $1,000 becomes
$2,281, and $10,000 becomes $22,810.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2007
$1.00
$2.28
$5.00
$11.40
$10.00
$22.81
$20.00
$45.62
$50.00
$114
$100
$228
$500
$1,140
$1,000
$2,281
$5,000
$11,405
$10,000
$22,810
$100,000
$228,099
$1,000,000
$2,280,990
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2007
Between 1981 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 323.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 24.9%, against 128.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.22%
$228
Medical care
5.71%
$423
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.36%
$236
Housing
3.29%
$232
Food
3.02%
$217
Energy
2.94%
$213
Transportation
2.67%
$198
Apparel
0.86%
$125
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$228
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $163 by
1994, on its way to $228 in 2007; 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 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $228; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2007: $100 is worth $228 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2007/