$100 in 1983 is worth $231 in 2012,
because prices increased 130.5% over that period, an average of
2.92% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$231
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
130.5%
Average inflation rate
2.92% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$231
Price difference ($100 base)
$131
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1983 → 2012
$231
$100 in 2012 → 1983
$43.38
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2012
Between 1983 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 130.5%, which works out to an average of
2.92% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.43 buys in 2012: the 1983 dollar
lost 56.6% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 2012 at the same ratio, 2.31: $1,000 becomes
$2,305, and $10,000 becomes $23,052.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2012
$1.00
$2.31
$5.00
$11.53
$10.00
$23.05
$20.00
$46.10
$50.00
$115
$100
$231
$500
$1,153
$1,000
$2,305
$5,000
$11,526
$10,000
$23,052
$100,000
$230,516
$1,000,000
$2,305,161
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2012
Between 1983 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 312.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 26.0%, against 130.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.92%
$231
Medical care
5.01%
$412
Energy
3.16%
$246
Food
2.99%
$235
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.92%
$231
Housing
2.82%
$224
Transportation
2.74%
$219
Apparel
0.80%
$126
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2012
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 1983–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$231
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $161 by
1997, on its way to $231 in 2012; 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 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $231; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2012: $100 is worth $231 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2012/