$100 in 1983 is worth $131 in 1990,
because prices increased 31.2% over that period, an average of
3.96% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$131
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
31.2%
Average inflation rate
3.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$131
Price difference ($100 base)
$31.22
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1983 → 1990
$131
$100 in 1990 → 1983
$76.21
What happened to prices between 1983 and 1990
Between 1983 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 31.2%, which works out to an average of
3.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.76 buys in 1990: the 1983 dollar
lost 23.8% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 1990 at the same ratio, 1.31: $1,000 becomes
$1,312, and $10,000 becomes $13,122.
Amount in 1983
Value in 1990
$1.00
$1.31
$5.00
$6.56
$10.00
$13.12
$20.00
$26.24
$50.00
$65.61
$100
$131
$500
$656
$1,000
$1,312
$5,000
$6,561
$10,000
$13,122
$100,000
$131,225
$1,000,000
$1,312,249
Inflation by spending category, 1983–1990
Between 1983 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 61.8%, while energy rose the least, up 2.2%, against 31.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.96%
$131
Medical care
7.12%
$162
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.50%
$136
Food
4.18%
$133
Housing
3.72%
$129
Apparel
3.10%
$124
Transportation
2.80%
$121
Energy
0.31%
$102
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 $110 by
1986, on its way to $131 in 1990; 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 1.9% in 1986.
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $131; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 1990: $100 is worth $131 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1990/