$100 in 1983 is worth $241 in 2016,
because prices increased 141.0% over that period, an average of
2.70% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$241
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
141.0%
Average inflation rate
2.70% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$241
Price difference ($100 base)
$141
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1983 → 2016
$241
$100 in 2016 → 1983
$41.50
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2016
Between 1983 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 141.0%, which works out to an average of
2.70% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.41 buys in 2016: the 1983 dollar
lost 58.5% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 2016 at the same ratio, 2.41: $1,000 becomes
$2,410, and $10,000 becomes $24,097.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2016
$1.00
$2.41
$5.00
$12.05
$10.00
$24.10
$20.00
$48.19
$50.00
$120
$100
$241
$500
$1,205
$1,000
$2,410
$5,000
$12,049
$10,000
$24,097
$100,000
$240,971
$1,000,000
$2,409,709
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2016
Between 1983 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 360.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 25.8%, against 141.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.70%
$241
Medical care
4.74%
$461
Food
2.81%
$249
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.80%
$249
Housing
2.76%
$245
Transportation
2.06%
$196
Energy
1.96%
$190
Apparel
0.70%
$126
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$241
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $167 by
1999, on its way to $241 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $241; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2016: $100 is worth $241 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2016/