$100 in 1984 is worth $170 in 2001,
because prices increased 70.5% over that period, an average of
3.19% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$170
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
70.5%
Average inflation rate
3.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$170
Price difference ($100 base)
$70.45
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1984 → 2001
$170
$100 in 2001 → 1984
$58.67
What happened to prices between 1984 and 2001
Between 1984 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 70.5%, which works out to an average of
3.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.59 buys in 2001: the 1984 dollar
lost 41.3% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2001 at the same ratio, 1.70: $1,000 becomes
$1,705, and $10,000 becomes $17,045.
Amount in 1984
Value in 2001
$1.00
$1.70
$5.00
$8.52
$10.00
$17.05
$20.00
$34.09
$50.00
$85.23
$100
$170
$500
$852
$1,000
$1,705
$5,000
$8,523
$10,000
$17,045
$100,000
$170,452
$1,000,000
$1,704,524
Inflation by spending category, 1984–2001
Between 1984 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 155.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 24.7%, against 70.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.19%
$170
Medical care
5.67%
$255
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.45%
$178
Housing
3.18%
$170
Food
3.09%
$168
Transportation
2.37%
$149
Energy
1.47%
$128
Apparel
1.31%
$125
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 2001
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 1984–2001 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1984, at end
1984–1990
3.90%
25.8%
$126
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$166
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$170
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $135 by
1992, on its way to $170 in 2001; 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 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $170; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 2001: $100 is worth $170 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2001/