$100 in 1954 is worth $370 in 1983,
because prices increased 270.3% over that period, an average of
4.62% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$370
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
270.3%
Average inflation rate
4.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$370
Price difference ($100 base)
$270
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1954 → 1983
$370
$100 in 1983 → 1954
$27.01
What happened to prices between 1954 and 1983
Between 1954 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 270.3%, which works out to an average of
4.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1983: the 1954 dollar
lost 73.0% of its purchasing power over
these 29 years.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Every 1954 amount converts to 1983 at the same ratio, 3.70: $1,000 becomes
$3,703, and $10,000 becomes $37,026.
Amount in 1954
Value in 1983
$1.00
$3.70
$5.00
$18.51
$10.00
$37.03
$20.00
$74.05
$50.00
$185
$100
$370
$500
$1,851
$1,000
$3,703
$5,000
$18,513
$10,000
$37,026
$100,000
$370,260
$1,000,000
$3,702,602
Inflation by spending category, 1954–1983
Between 1954 and 1983, medical care rose the most, up 465.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 132.5%, against 270.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.62%
$370
Medical care
6.15%
$565
Transportation
4.72%
$380
Food
4.44%
$352
Apparel
2.95%
$232
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1954: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1954 to 1983
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1954–1983 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1954, at end
1954–1960
1.61%
10.0%
$110
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$144
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$306
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$370
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $129 by
1968, on its way to $370 in 1983; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1954 had the buying
power of $370; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1954 to 1983: $100 is worth $370 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1983/