$100 in 1981 is worth $270 in 2017,
because prices increased 169.7% over that period, an average of
2.79% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$270
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
169.7%
Average inflation rate
2.79% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$270
Price difference ($100 base)
$170
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1981 → 2017
$270
$100 in 2017 → 1981
$37.08
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2017
Between 1981 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 169.7%, which works out to an average of
2.79% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.37 buys in 2017: the 1981 dollar
lost 62.9% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 2017 at the same ratio, 2.70: $1,000 becomes
$2,697, and $10,000 becomes $26,966.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2017
$1.00
$2.70
$5.00
$13.48
$10.00
$26.97
$20.00
$53.93
$50.00
$135
$100
$270
$500
$1,348
$1,000
$2,697
$5,000
$13,483
$10,000
$26,966
$100,000
$269,659
$1,000,000
$2,696,590
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2017
Between 1981 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 473.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 31.8%, against 169.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.79%
$270
Medical care
4.97%
$573
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.93%
$283
Housing
2.88%
$278
Food
2.77%
$267
Transportation
2.17%
$216
Energy
2.07%
$209
Apparel
0.77%
$132
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$270
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $183 by
1999, on its way to $270 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $270; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2017: $100 is worth $270 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2017/