$100 in 1983 is worth $208 in 2007,
because prices increased 108.2% over that period, an average of
3.10% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$208
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
108.2%
Average inflation rate
3.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$208
Price difference ($100 base)
$108
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1983 → 2007
$208
$100 in 2007 → 1983
$48.04
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2007
Between 1983 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 108.2%, which works out to an average of
3.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.48 buys in 2007: the 1983 dollar
lost 52.0% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 2007 at the same ratio, 2.08: $1,000 becomes
$2,082, and $10,000 becomes $20,817.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2007
$1.00
$2.08
$5.00
$10.41
$10.00
$20.82
$20.00
$41.63
$50.00
$104
$100
$208
$500
$1,041
$1,000
$2,082
$5,000
$10,409
$10,000
$20,817
$100,000
$208,175
$1,000,000
$2,081,747
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2007
Between 1983 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 249.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 18.8%, against 108.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.10%
$208
Medical care
5.35%
$349
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.17%
$212
Housing
3.15%
$211
Energy
3.10%
$208
Food
3.02%
$204
Transportation
2.62%
$186
Apparel
0.72%
$119
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$208
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $153 by
1995, on its way to $208 in 2007; 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 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $208; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2007: $100 is worth $208 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2007/