College Textbook Prices Price History
1980–2025 · BLS / College Board
Average price of a required college textbook in the United States, tracked from 1980 to 2025. Textbooks are one of the few education costs that actually tell a redemption story. For three decades they followed the same relentless upward curve as tuition, climbing from about $15 in 1980 to a peak near $130 around 2012. But then something interesting happened — digital alternatives, open educational resources, and rental programs started eating into the traditional publishing model. Prices have been falling steadily since, dropping back below $80 by the mid-2020s.
Price in 1980
$15.00
Price in 2025
$76.00
Total Change
+406.7%
Years Tracked
45
College Textbook Prices Over Time
Compare to inflation: The chart above shows nominal (not inflation-adjusted) prices. Use the toggle to switch to inflation-adjusted values when available, or try the inflation calculator to convert any amount between years.
Key Insights
- Textbook prices peaked around $130 in 2012 and have been declining ever since, dropping to roughly $76 by 2025. That's a 42% decrease in nominal terms — virtually unheard of in the education sector.
- The worst period for textbook inflation was 1990 to 2010, when prices more than tripled from $34 to $122. Publishers had a captive audience and used every edition cycle as an excuse to jack up prices.
- The decline after 2012 maps almost perfectly to the rise of digital textbooks, OER (open educational resources), and textbook rental services that broke the traditional publishing stranglehold on the market.
- From 1980 to 2000, a textbook went from $15 to $66 — a 340% increase that outpaced even tuition growth over the same period. Students were getting squeezed from every direction.
Year-by-Year Data
| Year | Price (USD per book) | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | $15.00 | — |
| 1981 | $16.00 | +6.7% |
| 1982 | $18.00 | +12.5% |
| 1983 | $19.00 | +5.6% |
| 1984 | $21.00 | +10.5% |
| 1985 | $23.00 | +9.5% |
| 1986 | $25.00 | +8.7% |
| 1987 | $27.00 | +8.0% |
| 1988 | $29.00 | +7.4% |
| 1989 | $31.00 | +6.9% |
| 1990 | $34.00 | +9.7% |
| 1991 | $37.00 | +8.8% |
| 1992 | $40.00 | +8.1% |
| 1993 | $43.00 | +7.5% |
| 1994 | $46.00 | +7.0% |
| 1995 | $49.00 | +6.5% |
| 1996 | $52.00 | +6.1% |
| 1997 | $56.00 | +7.7% |
| 1998 | $59.00 | +5.4% |
| 1999 | $62.00 | +5.1% |
| 2000 | $66.00 | +6.5% |
| 2001 | $70.00 | +6.1% |
| 2002 | $75.00 | +7.1% |
| 2003 | $80.00 | +6.7% |
| 2004 | $86.00 | +7.5% |
| 2005 | $92.00 | +7.0% |
| 2006 | $98.00 | +6.5% |
| 2007 | $105.00 | +7.1% |
| 2008 | $112.00 | +6.7% |
| 2009 | $118.00 | +5.4% |
| 2010 | $122.00 | +3.4% |
| 2011 | $127.00 | +4.1% |
| 2012 | $130.00 | +2.4% |
| 2013 | $128.00 | -1.5% |
| 2014 | $125.00 | -2.3% |
| 2015 | $120.00 | -4.0% |
| 2016 | $115.00 | -4.2% |
| 2017 | $108.00 | -6.1% |
| 2018 | $102.00 | -5.6% |
| 2019 | $96.00 | -5.9% |
| 2020 | $90.00 | -6.3% |
| 2021 | $86.00 | -4.4% |
| 2022 | $82.00 | -4.7% |
| 2023 | $80.00 | -2.4% |
| 2024 | $78.00 | -2.5% |
| 2025 | $76.00 | -2.6% |
Sources & Methodology
Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI component for college textbooks, supplemented by College Board and National Association of College Stores survey data. Prices represent the average cost of a new required textbook at four-year institutions.
Primary source: BLS / College Board
For a full explanation of how we collect and adjust data, see our methodology page.