$100 in 1983 is worth $178 in 2001,
because prices increased 77.8% over that period, an average of
3.25% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$178
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
77.8%
Average inflation rate
3.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$178
Price difference ($100 base)
$77.81
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1983 → 2001
$178
$100 in 2001 → 1983
$56.24
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2001
Between 1983 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 77.8%, which works out to an average of
3.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.56 buys in 2001: the 1983 dollar
lost 43.8% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 2001 at the same ratio, 1.78: $1,000 becomes
$1,778, and $10,000 becomes $17,781.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2001
$1.00
$1.78
$5.00
$8.89
$10.00
$17.78
$20.00
$35.56
$50.00
$88.91
$100
$178
$500
$889
$1,000
$1,778
$5,000
$8,891
$10,000
$17,781
$100,000
$177,811
$1,000,000
$1,778,112
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2001
Between 1983 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 171.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 27.0%, against 77.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.25%
$178
Medical care
5.70%
$271
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.53%
$187
Housing
3.23%
$177
Food
3.13%
$174
Transportation
2.48%
$155
Energy
1.44%
$129
Apparel
1.34%
$127
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2001
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–2001 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1983, at end
1983–1990
3.96%
31.2%
$131
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$173
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$178
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $141 by
1992, on its way to $178 in 2001; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $178; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2001: $100 is worth $178 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2001/