$100 in 1984 is worth $242 in 2018,
because prices increased 141.7% over that period, an average of
2.63% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$242
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
141.7%
Average inflation rate
2.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$242
Price difference ($100 base)
$142
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1984 → 2018
$242
$100 in 2018 → 1984
$41.38
What happened to prices between 1984 and 2018
Between 1984 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 141.7%, which works out to an average of
2.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.41 buys in 2018: the 1984 dollar
lost 58.6% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 2018 at the same ratio, 2.42: $1,000 becomes
$2,417, and $10,000 becomes $24,168.
Amount in 1984
Value in 2018
$1.00
$2.42
$5.00
$12.08
$10.00
$24.17
$20.00
$48.34
$50.00
$121
$100
$242
$500
$1,208
$1,000
$2,417
$5,000
$12,084
$10,000
$24,168
$100,000
$241,681
$1,000,000
$2,416,814
Inflation by spending category, 1984–2018
Between 1984 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 353.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 23.1%, against 141.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.63%
$242
Medical care
4.55%
$454
Housing
2.73%
$249
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.69%
$246
Food
2.68%
$246
Energy
2.32%
$218
Transportation
2.11%
$203
Apparel
0.61%
$123
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.90% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1984–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$242
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $166 by
2000, on its way to $242 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $242; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 2018: $100 is worth $242 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2018/