$100 in 1984 is worth $157 in 1998,
because prices increased 56.9% over that period, an average of
3.27% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$157
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
56.9%
Average inflation rate
3.27% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$157
Price difference ($100 base)
$56.88
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1984 → 1998
$157
$100 in 1998 → 1984
$63.74
What happened to prices between 1984 and 1998
Between 1984 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 56.9%, which works out to an average of
3.27% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.64 buys in 1998: the 1984 dollar
lost 36.3% of its purchasing power over
these 14 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 1998 at the same ratio, 1.57: $1,000 becomes
$1,569, and $10,000 becomes $15,688.
Amount in 1984
Value in 1998
$1.00
$1.57
$5.00
$7.84
$10.00
$15.69
$20.00
$31.38
$50.00
$78.44
$100
$157
$500
$784
$1,000
$1,569
$5,000
$7,844
$10,000
$15,688
$100,000
$156,882
$1,000,000
$1,568,816
Inflation by spending category, 1984–1998
Between 1984 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 126.7%, while energy rose the least, up 2.0%, against 56.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.27%
$157
Medical care
6.02%
$227
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.68%
$166
Food
3.21%
$156
Housing
3.17%
$155
Transportation
2.25%
$137
Apparel
1.91%
$130
Energy
0.14%
$102
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 1998
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.90% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1984–1998 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1984, at end
1984–1990
3.90%
25.8%
$126
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$157
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $131 by
1991, on its way to $157 in 1998; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $157; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 1998: $100 is worth $157 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-1998/