$100 in 1983 is worth $181 in 2002,
because prices increased 80.6% over that period, an average of
3.16% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$181
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
80.6%
Average inflation rate
3.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$181
Price difference ($100 base)
$80.62
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1983 → 2002
$181
$100 in 2002 → 1983
$55.36
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2002
Between 1983 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 80.6%, which works out to an average of
3.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.55 buys in 2002: the 1983 dollar
lost 44.6% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 2002 at the same ratio, 1.81: $1,000 becomes
$1,806, and $10,000 becomes $18,062.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2002
$1.00
$1.81
$5.00
$9.03
$10.00
$18.06
$20.00
$36.12
$50.00
$90.31
$100
$181
$500
$903
$1,000
$1,806
$5,000
$9,031
$10,000
$18,062
$100,000
$180,622
$1,000,000
$1,806,225
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2002
Between 1983 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 183.9%, while energy rose the least, up 21.8%, against 80.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.16%
$181
Medical care
5.65%
$284
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.47%
$191
Housing
3.18%
$181
Food
3.06%
$177
Transportation
2.30%
$154
Apparel
1.13%
$124
Energy
1.04%
$122
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$181
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $141 by
1992, on its way to $181 in 2002; 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 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $181; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2002: $100 is worth $181 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2002/