$100 in 1965 is worth $316 in 1983,
because prices increased 216.2% over that period, an average of
6.60% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$316
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
216.2%
Average inflation rate
6.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$316
Price difference ($100 base)
$216
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1965 → 1983
$316
$100 in 1983 → 1965
$31.63
What happened to prices between 1965 and 1983
Between 1965 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 216.2%, which works out to an average of
6.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.32 buys in 1983: the 1965 dollar
lost 68.4% of its purchasing power over
these 18 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
Every 1965 amount converts to 1983 at the same ratio, 3.16: $1,000 becomes
$3,162, and $10,000 becomes $31,619.
Amount in 1965
Value in 1983
$1.00
$3.16
$5.00
$15.81
$10.00
$31.62
$20.00
$63.24
$50.00
$158
$100
$316
$500
$1,581
$1,000
$3,162
$5,000
$15,810
$10,000
$31,619
$100,000
$316,190
$1,000,000
$3,161,905
Inflation by spending category, 1965–1983
Between 1965 and 1983, energy rose the most, up 336.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 109.6%, against 216.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.60%
$316
Energy
8.53%
$436
Medical care
7.99%
$399
Transportation
6.51%
$311
Food
6.46%
$309
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.38%
$305
Apparel
4.20%
$210
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 1983
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (4.26% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1965–1983 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1965, at end
1965–1970
4.26%
23.2%
$123
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$262
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$316
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $157 by
1974, on its way to $316 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 the smallest rise was 2.9% in 1966.
In 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $316; 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 1965 to 1983: $100 is worth $316 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-1983/