$100 in 1984 is worth $246 in 2019,
because prices increased 146.1% over that period, an average of
2.61% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$246
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
146.1%
Average inflation rate
2.61% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$246
Price difference ($100 base)
$146
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1984 → 2019
$246
$100 in 2019 → 1984
$40.64
What happened to prices between 1984 and 2019
Between 1984 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 146.1%, which works out to an average of
2.61% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.41 buys in 2019: the 1984 dollar
lost 59.4% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 2019 at the same ratio, 2.46: $1,000 becomes
$2,461, and $10,000 becomes $24,606.
Amount in 1984
Value in 2019
$1.00
$2.46
$5.00
$12.30
$10.00
$24.61
$20.00
$49.21
$50.00
$123
$100
$246
$500
$1,230
$1,000
$2,461
$5,000
$12,303
$10,000
$24,606
$100,000
$246,061
$1,000,000
$2,460,606
Inflation by spending category, 1984–2019
Between 1984 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 366.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 21.5%, against 146.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.61%
$246
Medical care
4.50%
$467
Housing
2.73%
$257
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.67%
$252
Food
2.66%
$250
Energy
2.19%
$213
Transportation
2.04%
$203
Apparel
0.56%
$122
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 2019
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 1984–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$246
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $173 by
2002, on its way to $246 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $246; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 2019: $100 is worth $246 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2019/