$100 in 1983 is worth $153 in 1995,
because prices increased 53.0% over that period, an average of
3.61% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$153
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
53.0%
Average inflation rate
3.61% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$153
Price difference ($100 base)
$53.01
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1983 → 1995
$153
$100 in 1995 → 1983
$65.35
What happened to prices between 1983 and 1995
Between 1983 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 53.0%, which works out to an average of
3.61% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.65 buys in 1995: the 1983 dollar
lost 34.6% of its purchasing power over
these 12 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 1995 at the same ratio, 1.53: $1,000 becomes
$1,530, and $10,000 becomes $15,301.
Amount in 1983
Value in 1995
$1.00
$1.53
$5.00
$7.65
$10.00
$15.30
$20.00
$30.60
$50.00
$76.51
$100
$153
$500
$765
$1,000
$1,530
$5,000
$7,651
$10,000
$15,301
$100,000
$153,012
$1,000,000
$1,530,120
Inflation by spending category, 1983–1995
Between 1983 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 119.2%, while energy rose the least, up 5.3%, against 53.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.61%
$153
Medical care
6.76%
$219
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.09%
$162
Food
3.40%
$149
Housing
3.39%
$149
Transportation
2.85%
$140
Apparel
2.32%
$132
Energy
0.43%
$105
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–1995 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1983, at end
1983–1990
3.96%
31.2%
$131
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$153
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $124 by
1989, on its way to $153 in 1995; 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 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $153; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 1995: $100 is worth $153 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1995/