$100 in 1984 is worth $109 in 1987,
because prices increased 9.3% over that period, an average of
3.02% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$109
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
9.3%
Average inflation rate
3.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$109
Price difference ($100 base)
$9.34
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1984 → 1987
$109
$100 in 1987 → 1984
$91.46
What happened to prices between 1984 and 1987
Between 1984 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 9.3%, which works out to an average of
3.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.91 buys in 1987: the 1984 dollar
lost 8.5% of its purchasing power over
these 3 years.
1984 was the year the recovery became a boom. Real GDP grew 7.2%, the
fastest calendar-year growth since 1951, as the tax cuts passed in 1981
combined with falling interest rates and rebuilding consumer confidence.
Unemployment, which had topped 10.8% just two years earlier, fell below
7.5%. Inflation ticked up to 4.3% from 3.2% the year before, but nothing
close to a return of the 1970s wage-price spiral: the Federal Reserve under
Paul Volcker kept policy tight enough to hold the line while growth ran hot.
The strength of the expansion, branded “Morning in America” in President
Reagan’s reelection campaign, carried him to a 49-state landslide over
Walter Mondale that November, at the time the widest electoral-vote margin
in U.S. history. For households, the numbers behind the slogan were
concrete: median income rose to about $22,400, and a gallon of gas cost
$1.13, roughly what it had cost three years earlier even as wages kept
climbing. The contrast with 1980, when 13.5% inflation and interest rates
near 20% had defined the economy, could not have been sharper.
Every 1984 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 1.09: $1,000 becomes
$1,093, and $10,000 becomes $10,934.
Amount in 1984
Value in 1987
$1.00
$1.09
$5.00
$5.47
$10.00
$10.93
$20.00
$21.87
$50.00
$54.67
$100
$109
$500
$547
$1,000
$1,093
$5,000
$5,467
$10,000
$10,934
$100,000
$109,336
$1,000,000
$1,093,359
Inflation by spending category, 1984–1987
Between 1984 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 21.8%, while energy fell 12.2%, against 9.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.02%
$109
Medical care
6.80%
$122
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.16%
$113
Housing
3.30%
$110
Food
3.22%
$110
Apparel
2.70%
$108
Transportation
0.54%
$102
Energy
-4.24%
$87.81
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $104 by
1985, on its way to $109 in 1987; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.6% in 1987, and the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $109; the year's average CPI of 113.6 is the level
behind every 1987 figure on this page.
1987 tested whether the disinflation of the 1980s could survive its first
real shock. Paul Volcker, who had run the Federal Reserve since 1979 and
driven inflation down from 13.5% to routine mid-single digits, handed the
chairmanship to Alan Greenspan in August. Inflation for the year came in at
3.6%, edging up as the expansion entered its fifth year and a weaker
dollar, following 1985’s Plaza Accord, pushed up the price of imported
goods. Then, on October 19, the stock market delivered Greenspan’s first
crisis: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6% in a single session,
still the largest one-day percentage drop in its history, as computer-driven
“portfolio insurance” trading amplified a global sell-off that had started
days earlier. The Fed responded within 24 hours, publicly pledging to
supply whatever liquidity the banking system needed, and the panic did not
spread to the broader economy. Growth continued and unemployment kept
falling through the rest of the year. It was an early demonstration of what
became known as the “Greenspan put,” a Fed willing to move fast and loosen
policy to contain financial shocks even while still watching inflation,
that shaped central banking for the next two decades.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 1987: $100 is worth $109 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-1987/