$100 in 1981 is worth $240 in 2010,
because prices increased 139.9% over that period, an average of
3.06% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$240
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
139.9%
Average inflation rate
3.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$240
Price difference ($100 base)
$140
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1981 → 2010
$240
$100 in 2010 → 1981
$41.69
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2010
Between 1981 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 139.9%, which works out to an average of
3.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.42 buys in 2010: the 1981 dollar
lost 58.3% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 2010 at the same ratio, 2.40: $1,000 becomes
$2,399, and $10,000 becomes $23,989.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2010
$1.00
$2.40
$5.00
$11.99
$10.00
$23.99
$20.00
$47.98
$50.00
$120
$100
$240
$500
$1,199
$1,000
$2,399
$5,000
$11,994
$10,000
$23,989
$100,000
$239,886
$1,000,000
$2,398,856
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2010
Between 1981 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 368.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 25.4%, against 139.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.06%
$240
Medical care
5.47%
$469
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.18%
$248
Housing
3.05%
$239
Food
2.98%
$235
Energy
2.70%
$216
Transportation
2.55%
$208
Apparel
0.78%
$125
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2010
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$240
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $168 by
1995, on its way to $240 in 2010; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $240; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2010: $100 is worth $240 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2010/