$100 in 1984 is worth $236 in 2017,
because prices increased 135.9% over that period, an average of
2.64% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$236
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
135.9%
Average inflation rate
2.64% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$236
Price difference ($100 base)
$136
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1984 → 2017
$236
$100 in 2017 → 1984
$42.39
What happened to prices between 1984 and 2017
Between 1984 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 135.9%, which works out to an average of
2.64% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.42 buys in 2017: the 1984 dollar
lost 57.6% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 2017 at the same ratio, 2.36: $1,000 becomes
$2,359, and $10,000 becomes $23,592.
Amount in 1984
Value in 2017
$1.00
$2.36
$5.00
$11.80
$10.00
$23.59
$20.00
$47.18
$50.00
$118
$100
$236
$500
$1,180
$1,000
$2,359
$5,000
$11,796
$10,000
$23,592
$100,000
$235,919
$1,000,000
$2,359,192
Inflation by spending category, 1984–2017
Between 1984 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 345.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 23.0%, against 135.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.64%
$236
Medical care
4.63%
$445
Housing
2.72%
$242
Food
2.72%
$242
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.70%
$241
Energy
2.16%
$203
Transportation
2.03%
$194
Apparel
0.63%
$123
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.90% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1984–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$236
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $166 by
2000, on its way to $236 in 2017; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $236; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 2017: $100 is worth $236 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2017/