$100 in 1985 is worth $167 in 2002,
because prices increased 67.2% over that period, an average of
3.07% a year.
$100 in 1985 has
the same buying power as
$167
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
67.2%
Average inflation rate
3.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$167
Price difference ($100 base)
$67.19
CPI in 1985
107.6
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1985 → 2002
$167
$100 in 2002 → 1985
$59.81
What happened to prices between 1985 and 2002
Between 1985 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 107.6 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 67.2%, which works out to an average of
3.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1985 bought what
$0.60 buys in 2002: the 1985 dollar
lost 40.2% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2002 at the same ratio, 1.67: $1,000 becomes
$1,672, and $10,000 becomes $16,719.
Amount in 1985
Value in 2002
$1.00
$1.67
$5.00
$8.36
$10.00
$16.72
$20.00
$33.44
$50.00
$83.60
$100
$167
$500
$836
$1,000
$1,672
$5,000
$8,360
$10,000
$16,719
$100,000
$167,193
$1,000,000
$1,671,933
Inflation by spending category, 1985–2002
Between 1985 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 151.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 18.1%, against 67.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1985
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1985 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.07%
$167
Medical care
5.58%
$252
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.33%
$175
Housing
3.08%
$167
Food
3.06%
$167
Transportation
2.16%
$144
Energy
1.07%
$120
Apparel
0.98%
$118
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1985: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1985 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.97% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1985–2002 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1985, at end
1985–1990
3.97%
21.5%
$121
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$160
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$167
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1985
$100 from 1985 had already become $134 by
1993, on its way to $167 in 2002; 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 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1985 had the buying
power of $167; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1985 to 2002: $100 is worth $167 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1985 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-2002/