$100 in 1983 is worth $252 in 2018,
because prices increased 152.1% over that period, an average of
2.68% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$252
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
152.1%
Average inflation rate
2.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$252
Price difference ($100 base)
$152
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1983 → 2018
$252
$100 in 2018 → 1983
$39.66
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2018
Between 1983 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 152.1%, which works out to an average of
2.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.40 buys in 2018: the 1983 dollar
lost 60.3% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 2018 at the same ratio, 2.52: $1,000 becomes
$2,521, and $10,000 becomes $25,212.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2018
$1.00
$2.52
$5.00
$12.61
$10.00
$25.21
$20.00
$50.42
$50.00
$126
$100
$252
$500
$1,261
$1,000
$2,521
$5,000
$12,606
$10,000
$25,212
$100,000
$252,115
$1,000,000
$2,521,155
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2018
Between 1983 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 381.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 25.4%, against 152.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.68%
$252
Medical care
4.59%
$482
Housing
2.77%
$260
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.75%
$259
Food
2.71%
$255
Energy
2.28%
$220
Transportation
2.17%
$212
Apparel
0.65%
$125
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.96% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1983–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$252
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $178 by
2001, on its way to $252 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $252; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2018: $100 is worth $252 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2018/