$100 in 1983 is worth $219 in 2010,
because prices increased 118.9% over that period, an average of
2.94% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$219
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
118.9%
Average inflation rate
2.94% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$219
Price difference ($100 base)
$119
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1983 → 2010
$219
$100 in 2010 → 1983
$45.68
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2010
Between 1983 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 118.9%, which works out to an average of
2.94% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.46 buys in 2010: the 1983 dollar
lost 54.3% of its purchasing power over
these 27 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 2010 at the same ratio, 2.19: $1,000 becomes
$2,189, and $10,000 becomes $21,893.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2010
$1.00
$2.19
$5.00
$10.95
$10.00
$21.89
$20.00
$43.79
$50.00
$109
$100
$219
$500
$1,095
$1,000
$2,189
$5,000
$10,947
$10,000
$21,893
$100,000
$218,932
$1,000,000
$2,189,317
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2010
Between 1983 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 286.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 19.3%, against 118.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.94%
$219
Medical care
5.13%
$386
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.00%
$222
Food
2.98%
$221
Housing
2.92%
$217
Energy
2.82%
$212
Transportation
2.50%
$195
Apparel
0.65%
$119
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2010
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$219
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $158 by
1996, on its way to $219 in 2010; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $219; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2010: $100 is worth $219 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2010/