$100 in 1984 is worth $293 in 2023,
because prices increased 193.3% over that period, an average of
2.80% a year.
$100 in 1984 has
the same buying power as
$293
in 2023
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
193.3%
Average inflation rate
2.80% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$293
Price difference ($100 base)
$193
CPI in 1984
103.9
CPI in 2023
304.702
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
Inflation in 2023
4.12%
$100 in 1984 → 2023
$293
$100 in 2023 → 1984
$34.10
What happened to prices between 1984 and 2023
Between 1984 and 2023, the Consumer Price Index went from 103.9 to 304.702.
Cumulatively, prices increased 193.3%, which works out to an average of
2.80% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1984 bought what
$0.34 buys in 2023: the 1984 dollar
lost 65.9% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 2023 at the same ratio, 2.93: $1,000 becomes
$2,933, and $10,000 becomes $29,326.
Amount in 1984
Value in 2023
$1.00
$2.93
$5.00
$14.66
$10.00
$29.33
$20.00
$58.65
$50.00
$147
$100
$293
$500
$1,466
$1,000
$2,933
$5,000
$14,663
$10,000
$29,326
$100,000
$293,265
$1,000,000
$2,932,647
Inflation by spending category, 1984–2023
Between 1984 and 2023, medical care rose the most, up 414.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 27.9%, against 193.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1984
spending costs in 2023, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1984 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.80%
$293
Medical care
4.29%
$514
Food
2.97%
$313
Housing
2.94%
$309
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.81%
$295
Energy
2.68%
$281
Transportation
2.45%
$257
Apparel
0.63%
$128
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1984: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1984 to 2023
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 5.59% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1984–2023 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$249
2020–2023
5.59%
17.7%
$293
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1984
$100 from 1984 had already become $182 by
2004, on its way to $293 in 2023; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 8.0% in 2022, 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: 2023
In 2023, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1984 had the buying
power of $293; the year's average CPI of 304.702 is the level
behind every 2023 figure on this page.
2023 was the year inflation came down without a recession. Consumer prices
rose 4.1% on average, roughly half of 2022’s 8.0%, and the December-to-December
rate fell to 3.4%. Gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon, well below the 2022
average, and supply-chain pressure on goods eased. Shelter, restaurant meals,
and other services stayed expensive, so the CPI kept rising at a rate well
above the pre-pandemic pace.
The Federal Reserve completed its rate-hiking campaign in July, taking the
policy rate to 5.25–5.50%, the highest level in 22 years. The effects showed
up in banking: Silicon Valley Bank failed in March after rate increases eroded
the value of its bond portfolio, the second-largest bank failure in U.S.
history at the time. Despite that, unemployment stayed under 4% all year.
Median household income was $80,610 according to the Census Bureau. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 66 cents
in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1984 to 2023: $100 is worth $293 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2023/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1984 to 2023. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1984-to-2023/