$100 in 1985 is worth $272 in 2022,
because prices increased 172.0% over that period, an average of
2.74% a year.
$100 in 1985 has
the same buying power as
$272
in 2022
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
172.0%
Average inflation rate
2.74% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$272
Price difference ($100 base)
$172
CPI in 1985
107.6
CPI in 2022
292.655
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
Inflation in 2022
8.00%
$100 in 1985 → 2022
$272
$100 in 2022 → 1985
$36.77
What happened to prices between 1985 and 2022
Between 1985 and 2022, the Consumer Price Index went from 107.6 to 292.655.
Cumulatively, prices increased 172.0%, which works out to an average of
2.74% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1985 bought what
$0.37 buys in 2022: the 1985 dollar
lost 63.2% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 2022 at the same ratio, 2.72: $1,000 becomes
$2,720, and $10,000 becomes $27,198.
Amount in 1985
Value in 2022
$1.00
$2.72
$5.00
$13.60
$10.00
$27.20
$20.00
$54.40
$50.00
$136
$100
$272
$500
$1,360
$1,000
$2,720
$5,000
$13,599
$10,000
$27,198
$100,000
$271,984
$1,000,000
$2,719,842
Inflation by spending category, 1985–2022
Between 1985 and 2022, medical care rose the most, up 381.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 21.0%, against 172.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1985
spending costs in 2022, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1985 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.74%
$272
Medical care
4.34%
$482
Energy
2.95%
$294
Food
2.91%
$289
Housing
2.81%
$279
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.72%
$270
Transportation
2.51%
$250
Apparel
0.52%
$121
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1985: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1985 to 2022
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 6.34% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1985–2022 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$241
2020–2022
6.34%
13.1%
$272
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1985
$100 from 1985 had already become $171 by
2003, on its way to $272 in 2022; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 8.0% in 2022, 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: 2022
In 2022, prices rose 8.0% and $100 from 1985 had the buying
power of $272; the year's average CPI of 292.655 is the level
behind every 2022 figure on this page.
2022 was the year inflation returned. Consumer prices rose 8.0% on average,
the worst since 1981, driven by pandemic-era supply chains, stimulus-fueled
demand, and an energy shock from the war in Ukraine. Gas briefly topped $5 a
gallon nationally for the first time ever, and “inflation” became the
top-ranked economic concern in nearly every poll of American households.
MLA: “Inflation from 1985 to 2022: $100 is worth $272 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-2022/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1985 to 2022. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-2022/