$100 in 1983 is worth $257 in 2019,
because prices increased 156.7% over that period, an average of
2.65% a year.
$100 in 1983 has
the same buying power as
$257
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
156.7%
Average inflation rate
2.65% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$257
Price difference ($100 base)
$157
CPI in 1983
99.6
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1983 → 2019
$257
$100 in 2019 → 1983
$38.96
What happened to prices between 1983 and 2019
Between 1983 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 99.6 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 156.7%, which works out to an average of
2.65% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1983 bought what
$0.39 buys in 2019: the 1983 dollar
lost 61.0% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 2019 at the same ratio, 2.57: $1,000 becomes
$2,567, and $10,000 becomes $25,668.
Amount in 1983
Value in 2019
$1.00
$2.57
$5.00
$12.83
$10.00
$25.67
$20.00
$51.34
$50.00
$128
$100
$257
$500
$1,283
$1,000
$2,567
$5,000
$12,834
$10,000
$25,668
$100,000
$256,684
$1,000,000
$2,566,837
Inflation by spending category, 1983–2019
Between 1983 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 395.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 23.8%, against 156.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1983
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1983 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.65%
$257
Medical care
4.55%
$495
Housing
2.77%
$267
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.74%
$264
Food
2.69%
$260
Energy
2.16%
$216
Transportation
2.10%
$212
Apparel
0.59%
$124
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1983: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1983 to 2019
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 1983–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$257
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1983
$100 from 1983 had already become $178 by
2001, on its way to $257 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1983 had the buying
power of $257; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1983 to 2019: $100 is worth $257 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1983 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1983-to-2019/