$100 in 1981 is worth $276 in 2018,
because prices increased 176.2% over that period, an average of
2.78% a year.
$100 in 1981 has
the same buying power as
$276
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
176.2%
Average inflation rate
2.78% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$276
Price difference ($100 base)
$176
CPI in 1981
90.9
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1981 → 2018
$276
$100 in 2018 → 1981
$36.20
What happened to prices between 1981 and 2018
Between 1981 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 90.9 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 176.2%, which works out to an average of
2.78% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1981 bought what
$0.36 buys in 2018: the 1981 dollar
lost 63.8% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 2018 at the same ratio, 2.76: $1,000 becomes
$2,762, and $10,000 becomes $27,625.
Amount in 1981
Value in 2018
$1.00
$2.76
$5.00
$13.81
$10.00
$27.62
$20.00
$55.25
$50.00
$138
$100
$276
$500
$1,381
$1,000
$2,762
$5,000
$13,812
$10,000
$27,625
$100,000
$276,245
$1,000,000
$2,762,453
Inflation by spending category, 1981–2018
Between 1981 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 484.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 31.9%, against 176.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1981
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1981 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.78%
$276
Medical care
4.89%
$585
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.91%
$289
Housing
2.88%
$286
Food
2.73%
$271
Transportation
2.23%
$226
Energy
2.22%
$225
Apparel
0.75%
$132
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1981: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1981 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.12% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1981–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$276
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1981
$100 from 1981 had already become $183 by
1999, on its way to $276 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1981 had the buying
power of $276; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1981 to 2018: $100 is worth $276 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1981 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1981-to-2018/