$100 in 1984 is worth $173 in 2002,
because prices increased 73.1% over that period, an average of
3.10% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$173
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
73.1%
Average inflation rate
3.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$173
Price difference ($100 base)
$73.15
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1984 → 2002
$173
$100 in 2002 → 1984
$57.75
What happened to prices between 1984 and 2002
Between 1984 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 73.1%, which works out to an average of
3.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.58 buys in 2002: the 1984 dollar
lost 42.2% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 2002 at the same ratio, 1.73: $1,000 becomes
$1,731, and $10,000 becomes $17,315.
Amount in 1984
Value in 2002
$1.00
$1.73
$5.00
$8.66
$10.00
$17.31
$20.00
$34.63
$50.00
$86.57
$100
$173
$500
$866
$1,000
$1,731
$5,000
$8,657
$10,000
$17,315
$100,000
$173,147
$1,000,000
$1,731,473
Inflation by spending category, 1984–2002
Between 1984 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 167.4%, while energy rose the least, up 20.6%, against 73.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.10%
$173
Medical care
5.62%
$267
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.39%
$182
Housing
3.13%
$174
Food
3.02%
$171
Transportation
2.18%
$147
Apparel
1.09%
$121
Energy
1.05%
$121
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.90% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1984–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$173
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $139 by
1993, on its way to $173 in 2002; 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 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $173; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 2002: $100 is worth $173 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2002/