$100 in 1982 is worth $223 in 2008,
because prices increased 123.1% over that period, an average of
3.13% a year.
$100 in 1982 has
the same buying power as
$223
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
123.1%
Average inflation rate
3.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$223
Price difference ($100 base)
$123
CPI in 1982
96.5
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1982
6.16%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1982 → 2008
$223
$100 in 2008 → 1982
$44.82
What happened to prices between 1982 and 2008
Between 1982 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 96.5 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 123.1%, which works out to an average of
3.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1982 bought what
$0.45 buys in 2008: the 1982 dollar
lost 55.2% of its purchasing power over
these 26 years.
1982 was the hard bottom of the disinflation Paul Volcker had set in motion.
Consumer prices rose just 6.2% for the year, roughly half of 1981’s rate and a
fraction of the 13.5% peak from two years earlier. The price fell because
demand had been crushed: the recession that began in July 1981 did not
officially end until November 1982, and unemployment kept climbing even as
the economy technically began to recover, reaching 10.8% in November and
December, the highest rate since the Great Depression. Manufacturing and
construction, especially the auto and housing industries starved of credit by
double-digit interest rates, bore the worst of it. Abroad, Mexico’s August
announcement that it could not service its foreign debt opened a Latin
American debt crisis that spread across the region and forced the Federal
Reserve and IMF into emergency lending. The stress on the financial system
pushed Volcker to start easing interest rates that October, stepping back
from the strict money-supply targets he had followed since 1979. Markets read
the shift correctly: the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed at 776.92 in
mid-August, and the rally that followed became the opening leg of the 1980s
bull market. By year’s end, the trade-off Volcker had bet on was becoming
visible: much lower inflation, at the cost of the worst unemployment in 40
years.
Every 1982 amount converts to 2008 at the same ratio, 2.23: $1,000 becomes
$2,231, and $10,000 becomes $22,311.
Amount in 1982
Value in 2008
$1.00
$2.23
$5.00
$11.16
$10.00
$22.31
$20.00
$44.62
$50.00
$112
$100
$223
$500
$1,116
$1,000
$2,231
$5,000
$11,156
$10,000
$22,311
$100,000
$223,112
$1,000,000
$2,231,119
Inflation by spending category, 1982–2008
Between 1982 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 293.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 21.6%, against 123.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1982
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1982 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.13%
$223
Medical care
5.41%
$394
Energy
3.40%
$239
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.17%
$225
Housing
3.14%
$223
Food
3.08%
$220
Transportation
2.73%
$202
Apparel
0.75%
$122
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1982: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1982 to 2008
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.86% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1982–2008 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1982, at end
1982–1990
3.86%
35.4%
$135
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$178
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$223
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1982
$100 from 1982 had already become $158 by
1995, on its way to $223 in 2008; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 5.4% in 1990, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1982 had the buying
power of $223; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1982 to 2008: $100 is worth $223 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1982-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1982 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1982-to-2008/