$100 in 1983 is worth $141 in 1992,
because prices increased 40.9% over that period, an average of
3.88% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$141
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
40.9%
Average inflation rate
3.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$141
Price difference ($100 base)
$40.86
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1983 → 1992
$141
$100 in 1992 → 1983
$70.99
What happened to prices between 1983 and 1992
Between 1983 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 40.9%, which works out to an average of
3.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.71 buys in 1992: the 1983 dollar
lost 29.0% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 1992 at the same ratio, 1.41: $1,000 becomes
$1,409, and $10,000 becomes $14,086.
Amount in 1983
Value in 1992
$1.00
$1.41
$5.00
$7.04
$10.00
$14.09
$20.00
$28.17
$50.00
$70.43
$100
$141
$500
$704
$1,000
$1,409
$5,000
$7,043
$10,000
$14,086
$100,000
$140,863
$1,000,000
$1,408,635
Inflation by spending category, 1983–1992
Between 1983 and 1992, medical care rose the most, up 89.0%, while energy rose the least, up 3.1%, against 40.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.88%
$141
Medical care
7.33%
$189
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.44%
$148
Food
3.70%
$139
Housing
3.66%
$138
Apparel
3.10%
$132
Transportation
2.73%
$127
Energy
0.34%
$103
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 1992
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–1992 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1983, at end
1983–1990
3.96%
31.2%
$131
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$141
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $114 by
1987, on its way to $141 in 1992; 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 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $141; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 1992: $100 is worth $141 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1992/