$100 in 1984 is worth $221 in 2012,
because prices increased 121.0% over that period, an average of
2.87% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$221
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
121.0%
Average inflation rate
2.87% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$221
Price difference ($100 base)
$121
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1984 → 2012
$221
$100 in 2012 → 1984
$45.25
What happened to prices between 1984 and 2012
Between 1984 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 121.0%, which works out to an average of
2.87% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.45 buys in 2012: the 1984 dollar
lost 54.7% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 2012 at the same ratio, 2.21: $1,000 becomes
$2,210, and $10,000 becomes $22,098.
Amount in 1984
Value in 2012
$1.00
$2.21
$5.00
$11.05
$10.00
$22.10
$20.00
$44.20
$50.00
$110
$100
$221
$500
$1,105
$1,000
$2,210
$5,000
$11,049
$10,000
$22,098
$100,000
$220,976
$1,000,000
$2,209,759
Inflation by spending category, 1984–2012
Between 1984 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 288.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 23.7%, against 121.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.87%
$221
Medical care
4.97%
$389
Energy
3.24%
$244
Food
2.96%
$227
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.85%
$220
Housing
2.77%
$215
Transportation
2.68%
$210
Apparel
0.76%
$124
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 2012
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 1984–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$221
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $157 by
1998, on its way to $221 in 2012; 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 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $221; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 2012: $100 is worth $221 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2012/