$100 in 1983 is worth $246 in 2017,
because prices increased 146.1% over that period, an average of
2.68% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$246
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
146.1%
Average inflation rate
2.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$246
Price difference ($100 base)
$146
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1983 → 2017
$246
$100 in 2017 → 1983
$40.63
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2017
Between 1983 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 146.1%, which works out to an average of
2.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.41 buys in 2017: the 1983 dollar
lost 59.4% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 2017 at the same ratio, 2.46: $1,000 becomes
$2,461, and $10,000 becomes $24,610.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2017
$1.00
$2.46
$5.00
$12.31
$10.00
$24.61
$20.00
$49.22
$50.00
$123
$100
$246
$500
$1,231
$1,000
$2,461
$5,000
$12,305
$10,000
$24,610
$100,000
$246,104
$1,000,000
$2,461,044
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2017
Between 1983 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 372.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 25.4%, against 146.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.68%
$246
Medical care
4.67%
$472
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.77%
$253
Housing
2.76%
$252
Food
2.75%
$252
Energy
2.13%
$205
Transportation
2.10%
$203
Apparel
0.67%
$125
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$246
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $167 by
1999, on its way to $246 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $246; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2017: $100 is worth $246 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2017/