$100 in 1985 is worth $238 in 2019,
because prices increased 137.6% over that period, an average of
2.58% a year.
$100 in 1985 has
the same buying power as
$238
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
137.6%
Average inflation rate
2.58% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$238
Price difference ($100 base)
$138
CPI in 1985
107.6
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1985 → 2019
$238
$100 in 2019 → 1985
$42.09
What happened to prices between 1985 and 2019
Between 1985 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 107.6 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 137.6%, which works out to an average of
2.58% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1985 bought what
$0.42 buys in 2019: the 1985 dollar
lost 57.9% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 2019 at the same ratio, 2.38: $1,000 becomes
$2,376, and $10,000 becomes $23,760.
Amount in 1985
Value in 2019
$1.00
$2.38
$5.00
$11.88
$10.00
$23.76
$20.00
$47.52
$50.00
$119
$100
$238
$500
$1,188
$1,000
$2,376
$5,000
$11,880
$10,000
$23,760
$100,000
$237,599
$1,000,000
$2,375,994
Inflation by spending category, 1985–2019
Between 1985 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 339.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 18.1%, against 137.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1985
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1985 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.58%
$238
Medical care
4.45%
$439
Housing
2.69%
$247
Food
2.67%
$245
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.62%
$241
Energy
2.23%
$212
Transportation
2.02%
$197
Apparel
0.49%
$118
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1985: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1985 to 2019
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.97% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1985–2019 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$203
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$238
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1985
$100 from 1985 had already become $165 by
2001, on its way to $238 in 2019; 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 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1985 had the buying
power of $238; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1985 to 2019: $100 is worth $238 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1985 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-2019/