$100 in 1983 is worth $216 in 2008,
because prices increased 116.2% over that period, an average of
3.13% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$216
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
116.2%
Average inflation rate
3.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$216
Price difference ($100 base)
$116
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1983 → 2008
$216
$100 in 2008 → 1983
$46.26
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2008
Between 1983 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 116.2%, which works out to an average of
3.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.46 buys in 2008: the 1983 dollar
lost 53.7% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 2008 at the same ratio, 2.16: $1,000 becomes
$2,162, and $10,000 becomes $21,617.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2008
$1.00
$2.16
$5.00
$10.81
$10.00
$21.62
$20.00
$43.23
$50.00
$108
$100
$216
$500
$1,081
$1,000
$2,162
$5,000
$10,808
$10,000
$21,617
$100,000
$216,168
$1,000,000
$2,161,677
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2008
Between 1983 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 261.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 18.7%, against 116.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.13%
$216
Medical care
5.28%
$362
Energy
3.51%
$237
Housing
3.15%
$217
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.14%
$216
Food
3.12%
$215
Transportation
2.75%
$197
Apparel
0.69%
$119
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2008
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 1983–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$216
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $153 by
1995, on its way to $216 in 2008; 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 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $216; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2008: $100 is worth $216 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2008/