$100 in 1983 is worth $137 in 1991,
because prices increased 36.7% over that period, an average of
3.99% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$137
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
36.7%
Average inflation rate
3.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$137
Price difference ($100 base)
$36.75
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1983 → 1991
$137
$100 in 1991 → 1983
$73.13
What happened to prices between 1983 and 1991
Between 1983 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 36.7%, which works out to an average of
3.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.73 buys in 1991: the 1983 dollar
lost 26.9% of its purchasing power over
these 8 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 1991 at the same ratio, 1.37: $1,000 becomes
$1,367, and $10,000 becomes $13,675.
Amount in 1983
Value in 1991
$1.00
$1.37
$5.00
$6.84
$10.00
$13.67
$20.00
$27.35
$50.00
$68.37
$100
$137
$500
$684
$1,000
$1,367
$5,000
$6,837
$10,000
$13,675
$100,000
$136,747
$1,000,000
$1,367,470
Inflation by spending category, 1983–1991
Between 1983 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 75.9%, while energy rose the least, up 2.6%, against 36.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.99%
$137
Medical care
7.32%
$176
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.54%
$143
Food
4.03%
$137
Housing
3.75%
$134
Apparel
3.18%
$128
Transportation
2.79%
$125
Energy
0.32%
$103
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 4.21% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (3.96% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–1991 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1983, at end
1983–1990
3.96%
31.2%
$131
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$137
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $114 by
1987, on its way to $137 in 1991; 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 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $137; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 1991: $100 is worth $137 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1991/