$100 in 1984 is worth $210 in 2010,
because prices increased 109.9% over that period, an average of
2.89% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$210
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
109.9%
Average inflation rate
2.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$210
Price difference ($100 base)
$110
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1984 → 2010
$210
$100 in 2010 → 1984
$47.65
What happened to prices between 1984 and 2010
Between 1984 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 109.9%, which works out to an average of
2.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.48 buys in 2010: the 1984 dollar
lost 52.4% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 2010 at the same ratio, 2.10: $1,000 becomes
$2,099, and $10,000 becomes $20,987.
Amount in 1984
Value in 2010
$1.00
$2.10
$5.00
$10.49
$10.00
$20.99
$20.00
$41.97
$50.00
$105
$100
$210
$500
$1,049
$1,000
$2,099
$5,000
$10,494
$10,000
$20,987
$100,000
$209,871
$1,000,000
$2,098,710
Inflation by spending category, 1984–2010
Between 1984 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 263.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 17.0%, against 109.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.89%
$210
Medical care
5.09%
$364
Food
2.95%
$213
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.92%
$212
Energy
2.89%
$210
Housing
2.87%
$209
Transportation
2.43%
$186
Apparel
0.61%
$117
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 2010
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.90% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1984–2010 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$210
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $154 by
1997, on its way to $210 in 2010; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $210; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 2010: $100 is worth $210 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2010/