$100 in 1985 is worth $193 in 2007,
because prices increased 92.7% over that period, an average of
3.03% a year.
$100 in 1985 has
the same buying power as
$193
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
92.7%
Average inflation rate
3.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$193
Price difference ($100 base)
$92.70
CPI in 1985
107.6
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1985 → 2007
$193
$100 in 2007 → 1985
$51.89
What happened to prices between 1985 and 2007
Between 1985 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 107.6 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 92.7%, which works out to an average of
3.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1985 bought what
$0.52 buys in 2007: the 1985 dollar
lost 48.1% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 2007 at the same ratio, 1.93: $1,000 becomes
$1,927, and $10,000 becomes $19,270.
Amount in 1985
Value in 2007
$1.00
$1.93
$5.00
$9.63
$10.00
$19.27
$20.00
$38.54
$50.00
$96.35
$100
$193
$500
$963
$1,000
$1,927
$5,000
$9,635
$10,000
$19,270
$100,000
$192,697
$1,000,000
$1,926,970
Inflation by spending category, 1985–2007
Between 1985 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 209.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 13.3%, against 92.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1985
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1985 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.03%
$193
Medical care
5.27%
$309
Energy
3.30%
$204
Housing
3.07%
$195
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.04%
$193
Food
3.01%
$192
Transportation
2.54%
$174
Apparel
0.57%
$113
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1985: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1985 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.97% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1985–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$193
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1985
$100 from 1985 had already become $146 by
1996, on its way to $193 in 2007; 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 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1985 had the buying
power of $193; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1985 to 2007: $100 is worth $193 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1985 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-2007/