$100 in 1982 is worth $316 in 2023,
because prices increased 215.8% over that period, an average of
2.84% a year.
$100 in 1982 has
the same buying power as
$316
in 2023
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
215.8%
Average inflation rate
2.84% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$316
Price difference ($100 base)
$216
CPI in 1982
96.5
CPI in 2023
304.702
Inflation in 1982
6.16%
Inflation in 2023
4.12%
$100 in 1982 → 2023
$316
$100 in 2023 → 1982
$31.67
What happened to prices between 1982 and 2023
Between 1982 and 2023, the Consumer Price Index went from 96.5 to 304.702.
Cumulatively, prices increased 215.8%, which works out to an average of
2.84% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1982 bought what
$0.32 buys in 2023: the 1982 dollar
lost 68.3% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 2023 at the same ratio, 3.16: $1,000 becomes
$3,158, and $10,000 becomes $31,575.
Amount in 1982
Value in 2023
$1.00
$3.16
$5.00
$15.79
$10.00
$31.58
$20.00
$63.15
$50.00
$158
$100
$316
$500
$1,579
$1,000
$3,158
$5,000
$15,788
$10,000
$31,575
$100,000
$315,753
$1,000,000
$3,157,534
Inflation by spending category, 1982–2023
Between 1982 and 2023, medical care rose the most, up 493.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 33.5%, against 215.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1982
spending costs in 2023, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1982 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.84%
$316
Medical care
4.44%
$594
Food
2.97%
$332
Housing
2.96%
$330
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.89%
$322
Energy
2.59%
$286
Transportation
2.50%
$275
Apparel
0.71%
$134
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1982: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1982 to 2023
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 5.59% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1982–2023 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$268
2020–2023
5.59%
17.7%
$316
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1982
$100 from 1982 had already become $186 by
2002, on its way to $316 in 2023; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 8.0% in 2022, 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: 2023
In 2023, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1982 had the buying
power of $316; the year's average CPI of 304.702 is the level
behind every 2023 figure on this page.
2023 was the year inflation came down without a recession. Consumer prices
rose 4.1% on average, roughly half of 2022’s 8.0%, and the December-to-December
rate fell to 3.4%. Gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon, well below the 2022
average, and supply-chain pressure on goods eased. Shelter, restaurant meals,
and other services stayed expensive, so the CPI kept rising at a rate well
above the pre-pandemic pace.
The Federal Reserve completed its rate-hiking campaign in July, taking the
policy rate to 5.25–5.50%, the highest level in 22 years. The effects showed
up in banking: Silicon Valley Bank failed in March after rate increases eroded
the value of its bond portfolio, the second-largest bank failure in U.S.
history at the time. Despite that, unemployment stayed under 4% all year.
Median household income was $80,610 according to the Census Bureau. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 66 cents
in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1982 to 2023: $100 is worth $316 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1982-to-2023/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1982 to 2023. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1982-to-2023/