$100 in 1984 is worth $207 in 2008,
because prices increased 107.2% over that period, an average of
3.08% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$207
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
107.2%
Average inflation rate
3.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$207
Price difference ($100 base)
$107
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1984 → 2008
$207
$100 in 2008 → 1984
$48.26
What happened to prices between 1984 and 2008
Between 1984 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 107.2%, which works out to an average of
3.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.48 buys in 2008: the 1984 dollar
lost 51.7% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 2008 at the same ratio, 2.07: $1,000 becomes
$2,072, and $10,000 becomes $20,722.
Amount in 1984
Value in 2008
$1.00
$2.07
$5.00
$10.36
$10.00
$20.72
$20.00
$41.44
$50.00
$104
$100
$207
$500
$1,036
$1,000
$2,072
$5,000
$10,361
$10,000
$20,722
$100,000
$207,221
$1,000,000
$2,072,214
Inflation by spending category, 1984–2008
Between 1984 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 240.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 16.5%, against 107.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.08%
$207
Medical care
5.24%
$341
Energy
3.62%
$235
Housing
3.11%
$209
Food
3.09%
$207
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.06%
$206
Transportation
2.68%
$189
Apparel
0.64%
$116
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 2008
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 1984–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$207
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $151 by
1996, on its way to $207 in 2008; 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 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $207; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 2008: $100 is worth $207 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2008/