$100 in 1983 is worth $238 in 2014,
because prices increased 137.7% over that period, an average of
2.83% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$238
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
137.7%
Average inflation rate
2.83% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$238
Price difference ($100 base)
$138
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1983 → 2014
$238
$100 in 2014 → 1983
$42.07
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2014
Between 1983 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 137.7%, which works out to an average of
2.83% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.42 buys in 2014: the 1983 dollar
lost 57.9% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 2014 at the same ratio, 2.38: $1,000 becomes
$2,377, and $10,000 becomes $23,769.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2014
$1.00
$2.38
$5.00
$11.88
$10.00
$23.77
$20.00
$47.54
$50.00
$119
$100
$238
$500
$1,188
$1,000
$2,377
$5,000
$11,884
$10,000
$23,769
$100,000
$237,687
$1,000,000
$2,376,867
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2014
Between 1983 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 332.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 27.3%, against 137.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.83%
$238
Medical care
4.84%
$433
Food
2.92%
$244
Energy
2.92%
$244
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.85%
$239
Housing
2.79%
$234
Transportation
2.54%
$217
Apparel
0.78%
$127
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2014
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$238
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $167 by
1999, on its way to $238 in 2014; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $238; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2014: $100 is worth $238 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2014/