$100 in 1982 is worth $241 in 2013,
because prices increased 141.4% over that period, an average of
2.88% a year.
$100 in 1982 has
the same buying power as
$241
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
141.4%
Average inflation rate
2.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$241
Price difference ($100 base)
$141
CPI in 1982
96.5
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1982
6.16%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1982 → 2013
$241
$100 in 2013 → 1982
$41.42
What happened to prices between 1982 and 2013
Between 1982 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 96.5 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 141.4%, which works out to an average of
2.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1982 bought what
$0.41 buys in 2013: the 1982 dollar
lost 58.6% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 2013 at the same ratio, 2.41: $1,000 becomes
$2,414, and $10,000 becomes $24,141.
Amount in 1982
Value in 2013
$1.00
$2.41
$5.00
$12.07
$10.00
$24.14
$20.00
$48.28
$50.00
$121
$100
$241
$500
$1,207
$1,000
$2,414
$5,000
$12,070
$10,000
$24,141
$100,000
$241,406
$1,000,000
$2,414,062
Inflation by spending category, 1982–2013
Between 1982 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 359.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 30.3%, against 141.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1982
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1982 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.88%
$241
Medical care
5.04%
$460
Energy
2.95%
$246
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.92%
$244
Food
2.91%
$243
Housing
2.79%
$235
Transportation
2.64%
$224
Apparel
0.86%
$130
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1982: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1982 to 2013
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.86% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1982–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$226
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$241
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1982
$100 from 1982 had already become $169 by
1998, on its way to $241 in 2013; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1982 had the buying
power of $241; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1982 to 2013: $100 is worth $241 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1982-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1982 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1982-to-2013/