$100 in 1981 is worth $260 in 2014,
because prices increased 160.4% over that period, an average of
2.94% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$260
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
160.4%
Average inflation rate
2.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$260
Price difference ($100 base)
$160
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1981 → 2014
$260
$100 in 2014 → 1981
$38.40
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2014
Between 1981 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 160.4%, which works out to an average of
2.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.38 buys in 2014: the 1981 dollar
lost 61.6% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 2014 at the same ratio, 2.60: $1,000 becomes
$2,604, and $10,000 becomes $26,044.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2014
$1.00
$2.60
$5.00
$13.02
$10.00
$26.04
$20.00
$52.09
$50.00
$130
$100
$260
$500
$1,302
$1,000
$2,604
$5,000
$13,022
$10,000
$26,044
$100,000
$260,436
$1,000,000
$2,604,356
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2014
Between 1981 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 425.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 33.8%, against 160.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.94%
$260
Medical care
5.15%
$525
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.02%
$267
Food
2.93%
$259
Housing
2.91%
$258
Energy
2.81%
$249
Transportation
2.58%
$232
Apparel
0.89%
$134
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2014
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$260
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $177 by
1997, on its way to $260 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $260; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2014: $100 is worth $260 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2014/