$100 in 1981 is worth $261 in 2015,
because prices increased 160.7% over that period, an average of
2.86% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$261
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
160.7%
Average inflation rate
2.86% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$261
Price difference ($100 base)
$161
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1981 → 2015
$261
$100 in 2015 → 1981
$38.35
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2015
Between 1981 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 160.7%, which works out to an average of
2.86% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.38 buys in 2015: the 1981 dollar
lost 61.6% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 2015 at the same ratio, 2.61: $1,000 becomes
$2,607, and $10,000 becomes $26,074.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2015
$1.00
$2.61
$5.00
$13.04
$10.00
$26.07
$20.00
$52.15
$50.00
$130
$100
$261
$500
$1,304
$1,000
$2,607
$5,000
$13,037
$10,000
$26,074
$100,000
$260,745
$1,000,000
$2,607,448
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2015
Between 1981 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 438.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 32.1%, against 160.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.86%
$261
Medical care
5.08%
$539
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.98%
$272
Food
2.90%
$264
Housing
2.89%
$263
Transportation
2.26%
$214
Energy
2.17%
$208
Apparel
0.82%
$132
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$261
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $177 by
1997, on its way to $261 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $261; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2015: $100 is worth $261 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2015/