$100 in 1985 is worth $155 in 1999,
because prices increased 54.8% over that period, an average of
3.17% a year.
$100 in 1985 has
the same buying power as
$155
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
54.8%
Average inflation rate
3.17% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$155
Price difference ($100 base)
$54.83
CPI in 1985
107.6
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1985 → 1999
$155
$100 in 1999 → 1985
$64.59
What happened to prices between 1985 and 1999
Between 1985 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 107.6 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 54.8%, which works out to an average of
3.17% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1985 bought what
$0.65 buys in 1999: the 1985 dollar
lost 35.4% of its purchasing power over
these 14 years.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
Every 1985 amount converts to 1999 at the same ratio, 1.55: $1,000 becomes
$1,548, and $10,000 becomes $15,483.
Amount in 1985
Value in 1999
$1.00
$1.55
$5.00
$7.74
$10.00
$15.48
$20.00
$30.97
$50.00
$77.42
$100
$155
$500
$774
$1,000
$1,548
$5,000
$7,742
$10,000
$15,483
$100,000
$154,833
$1,000,000
$1,548,327
Inflation by spending category, 1985–1999
Between 1985 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 120.8%, while energy rose the least, up 4.9%, against 54.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1985
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1985 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.17%
$155
Medical care
5.82%
$221
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.52%
$162
Food
3.20%
$155
Housing
3.04%
$152
Transportation
2.21%
$136
Apparel
1.61%
$125
Energy
0.34%
$105
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1985: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1985 to 1999
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.97% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1985–1999 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1985, at end
1985–1990
3.97%
21.5%
$121
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$155
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1985
$100 from 1985 had already become $130 by
1992, on its way to $155 in 1999; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 5.4% in 1990, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1985 had the buying
power of $155; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1985 to 1999: $100 is worth $155 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1985 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-1999/