$100 in 1981 is worth $253 in 2012,
because prices increased 152.6% over that period, an average of
3.03% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$253
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
152.6%
Average inflation rate
3.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$253
Price difference ($100 base)
$153
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1981 → 2012
$253
$100 in 2012 → 1981
$39.59
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2012
Between 1981 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 152.6%, which works out to an average of
3.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.40 buys in 2012: the 1981 dollar
lost 60.4% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 2012 at the same ratio, 2.53: $1,000 becomes
$2,526, and $10,000 becomes $25,258.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2012
$1.00
$2.53
$5.00
$12.63
$10.00
$25.26
$20.00
$50.52
$50.00
$126
$100
$253
$500
$1,263
$1,000
$2,526
$5,000
$12,629
$10,000
$25,258
$100,000
$252,579
$1,000,000
$2,525,787
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2012
Between 1981 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 400.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 32.5%, against 152.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.03%
$253
Medical care
5.33%
$501
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.10%
$258
Energy
3.02%
$252
Food
3.00%
$250
Housing
2.95%
$246
Transportation
2.77%
$233
Apparel
0.91%
$132
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2012
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 1981–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$253
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $177 by
1997, on its way to $253 in 2012; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $253; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2012: $100 is worth $253 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2012/