$100 in 1983 is worth $114 in 1987,
because prices increased 14.1% over that period, an average of
3.34% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$114
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
14.1%
Average inflation rate
3.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$114
Price difference ($100 base)
$14.06
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1983 → 1987
$114
$100 in 1987 → 1983
$87.68
What happened to prices between 1983 and 1987
Between 1983 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 14.1%, which works out to an average of
3.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.88 buys in 1987: the 1983 dollar
lost 12.3% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
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.
Every 1983 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 1.14: $1,000 becomes
$1,141, and $10,000 becomes $11,406.
Amount in 1983
Value in 1987
$1.00
$1.14
$5.00
$5.70
$10.00
$11.41
$20.00
$22.81
$50.00
$57.03
$100
$114
$500
$570
$1,000
$1,141
$5,000
$5,703
$10,000
$11,406
$100,000
$114,056
$1,000,000
$1,140,562
Inflation by spending category, 1983–1987
Between 1983 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 29.3%, while energy fell 11.3%, against 14.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.34%
$114
Medical care
6.64%
$129
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.37%
$119
Housing
3.50%
$115
Food
3.37%
$114
Apparel
2.50%
$110
Transportation
1.50%
$106
Energy
-2.96%
$88.69
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $108 by
1985, on its way to $114 in 1987; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 4.3% in 1984, and the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $114; the year's average CPI of 113.6 is the level
behind every 1987 figure on this page.
1987 tested whether the disinflation of the 1980s could survive its first
real shock. Paul Volcker, who had run the Federal Reserve since 1979 and
driven inflation down from 13.5% to routine mid-single digits, handed the
chairmanship to Alan Greenspan in August. Inflation for the year came in at
3.6%, edging up as the expansion entered its fifth year and a weaker
dollar, following 1985’s Plaza Accord, pushed up the price of imported
goods. Then, on October 19, the stock market delivered Greenspan’s first
crisis: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6% in a single session,
still the largest one-day percentage drop in its history, as computer-driven
“portfolio insurance” trading amplified a global sell-off that had started
days earlier. The Fed responded within 24 hours, publicly pledging to
supply whatever liquidity the banking system needed, and the panic did not
spread to the broader economy. Growth continued and unemployment kept
falling through the rest of the year. It was an early demonstration of what
became known as the “Greenspan put,” a Fed willing to move fast and loosen
policy to contain financial shocks even while still watching inflation,
that shaped central banking for the next two decades.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 1987: $100 is worth $114 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1987/