$100 in 1984 is worth $126 in 1990,
because prices increased 25.8% over that period, an average of
3.90% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$126
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
25.8%
Average inflation rate
3.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$126
Price difference ($100 base)
$25.79
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1984 → 1990
$126
$100 in 1990 → 1984
$79.50
What happened to prices between 1984 and 1990
Between 1984 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 25.8%, which works out to an average of
3.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.79 buys in 1990: the 1984 dollar
lost 20.5% of its purchasing power over
these 6 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 1990 at the same ratio, 1.26: $1,000 becomes
$1,258, and $10,000 becomes $12,579.
Amount in 1984
Value in 1990
$1.00
$1.26
$5.00
$6.29
$10.00
$12.58
$20.00
$25.16
$50.00
$62.90
$100
$126
$500
$629
$1,000
$1,258
$5,000
$6,290
$10,000
$12,579
$100,000
$125,794
$1,000,000
$1,257,940
Inflation by spending category, 1984–1990
Between 1984 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 52.4%, while energy rose the least, up 1.2%, against 25.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.90%
$126
Medical care
7.28%
$152
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.41%
$130
Food
4.24%
$128
Housing
3.66%
$124
Apparel
3.31%
$122
Transportation
2.53%
$116
Energy
0.20%
$101
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 $109 by
1987, on its way to $126 in 1990; 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 the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $126; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 1990: $100 is worth $126 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-1990/