$100 in 1974 is worth $202 in 1983,
because prices increased 102.0% over that period, an average of
8.13% a year.
$100 in 1974 has
the same buying power as
$202
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
102.0%
Average inflation rate
8.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$202
Price difference ($100 base)
$102
CPI in 1974
49.3
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1974 → 1983
$202
$100 in 1983 → 1974
$49.50
What happened to prices between 1974 and 1983
Between 1974 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 49.3 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 102.0%, which works out to an average of
8.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1974 bought what
$0.49 buys in 1983: the 1974 dollar
lost 50.5% of its purchasing power over
these 9 years.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
Every 1974 amount converts to 1983 at the same ratio, 2.02: $1,000 becomes
$2,020, and $10,000 becomes $20,203.
Amount in 1974
Value in 1983
$1.00
$2.02
$5.00
$10.10
$10.00
$20.20
$20.00
$40.41
$50.00
$101
$100
$202
$500
$1,010
$1,000
$2,020
$5,000
$10,101
$10,000
$20,203
$100,000
$202,028
$1,000,000
$2,020,284
Inflation by spending category, 1974–1983
Between 1974 and 1983, energy rose the most, up 162.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 44.4%, against 102.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1974
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1974 →
All items (CPI-U)
8.13%
$202
Energy
11.31%
$262
Medical care
10.08%
$237
Housing
9.00%
$217
Transportation
8.98%
$217
Core (all items less food & energy)
8.10%
$202
Food
6.78%
$180
Apparel
4.17%
$144
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1974: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1974 to 1983
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.94% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (6.52% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1974–1983 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1974, at end
1974–1980
8.94%
67.1%
$167
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$202
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1974
$100 from 1974 had already become $132 by
1978, on its way to $202 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 3.2% in 1983.
In 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1974 had the buying
power of $202; 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 1974 to 1983: $100 is worth $202 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1974 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1974-to-1983/