$100 in 1983 is worth $161 in 1997,
because prices increased 61.1% over that period, an average of
3.47% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$161
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
61.1%
Average inflation rate
3.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$161
Price difference ($100 base)
$61.14
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1983 → 1997
$161
$100 in 1997 → 1983
$62.06
What happened to prices between 1983 and 1997
Between 1983 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 61.1%, which works out to an average of
3.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.62 buys in 1997: the 1983 dollar
lost 37.9% of its purchasing power over
these 14 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 1997 at the same ratio, 1.61: $1,000 becomes
$1,611, and $10,000 becomes $16,114.
Amount in 1983
Value in 1997
$1.00
$1.61
$5.00
$8.06
$10.00
$16.11
$20.00
$32.23
$50.00
$80.57
$100
$161
$500
$806
$1,000
$1,611
$5,000
$8,057
$10,000
$16,114
$100,000
$161,145
$1,000,000
$1,611,446
Inflation by spending category, 1983–1997
Between 1983 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 133.2%, while energy rose the least, up 11.6%, against 61.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.47%
$161
Medical care
6.23%
$233
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.87%
$170
Food
3.33%
$158
Housing
3.30%
$158
Transportation
2.71%
$145
Apparel
2.04%
$133
Energy
0.79%
$112
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 1997
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.98% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–1997 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1983, at end
1983–1990
3.96%
31.2%
$131
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$161
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $131 by
1990, on its way to $161 in 1997; 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 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $161; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 1997: $100 is worth $161 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-1997/