$100 in 1984 is worth $147 in 1995,
because prices increased 46.7% over that period, an average of
3.54% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$147
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
46.7%
Average inflation rate
3.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$147
Price difference ($100 base)
$46.68
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1984 → 1995
$147
$100 in 1995 → 1984
$68.18
What happened to prices between 1984 and 1995
Between 1984 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 46.7%, which works out to an average of
3.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.68 buys in 1995: the 1984 dollar
lost 31.8% of its purchasing power over
these 11 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 1995 at the same ratio, 1.47: $1,000 becomes
$1,467, and $10,000 becomes $14,668.
Amount in 1984
Value in 1995
$1.00
$1.47
$5.00
$7.33
$10.00
$14.67
$20.00
$29.34
$50.00
$73.34
$100
$147
$500
$733
$1,000
$1,467
$5,000
$7,334
$10,000
$14,668
$100,000
$146,679
$1,000,000
$1,466,795
Inflation by spending category, 1984–1995
Between 1984 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 106.5%, while energy rose the least, up 4.3%, against 46.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.54%
$147
Medical care
6.81%
$206
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.01%
$154
Food
3.36%
$144
Housing
3.33%
$143
Transportation
2.71%
$134
Apparel
2.36%
$129
Energy
0.38%
$104
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.90% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1984–1995 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1984, at end
1984–1990
3.90%
25.8%
$126
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$147
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $119 by
1989, on its way to $147 in 1995; 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 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $147; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 1995: $100 is worth $147 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-1995/