Hello and thank you for your question. Here is what I've found:
Average cost of a car in 1984
Our starting point is
http://data.bls.gov/labjava/outside.jsp?survey=cu
Selecting
Area: U.S. city average and Item: New cars
Gives the price comparison scale of 102 in March, 1984 relative to 134
in March, 2004.
So an average new car in 1984 cost 102 / 134 or 76% of what it costs today.
The dollar price will depend on the particular car, and the price
increase is greater in the luxury class.
For example, a new Lincoln Town Car cost $18,059 - $21,694 in 1984
http://www.epinions.com/auto_Make-1984_Lincoln_Town_Car/display_~full_specs
compared with about $44,000 today
http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/pricing.aspx?modelid=10768&trimid=-1&src=VIP&tab=1
Average cost of a home in 1984
Here is a price index for new private home sales
http://www.census.gov/const/price_indexes.pdf
The 1984 figure is 69.8, relative to 137.2 in the first quarter of 2004.
So a home in 1984 cost 69.8/137.2 or about 50% of what it costs today.
There are current dollar figures for the northeast at
http://www.census.gov/const/quarterly_sales.pdf (page 6)
which gives the current median price at $287,700 (!)
So at least at the national rate of home price inflation, you would
have paid about $145,000 for that home in 1984.
Dinner and a movie in 1984
Here the best source for the cost of dinner is
http://data.bls.gov/labjava/outside.jsp?survey=cw
I selected
Northeast Urban / Food Away
On the page that appears, I selected the range of years 1984-2004
For comparison purposes, food away from home in 1984 was 104.4,
compared to 188.6 in March, 2004.
So a restaurant meal in 1984 cost 104.4 / 188.6 or 55% of what it costs today.
Here's one Brooklyn restaurant's charges:
"From June 16 through June 22, Chirico will offer selections from his
original 1983 menu at 1983 prices (pastas: $5.95 and entrees:
$8.95-$19.95). "
http://www.go-brooklyn.com/html/issues/_vol26/26_24/marcopolo20.html
Movie tickets in 1980 cost $2.69
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/72/speedometer.html
I think it's fair to budget $3.00 as the 1984 price.
A bag of groceries in 1984
Here again the best source is
http://data.bls.gov/labjava/outside.jsp?survey=cw
I selected
Northeast Urban / Food at Home
On the page that appears, I selected the range of years 1984-2004
For comparison purposes, food at home in 1984 was 102.6, compared to
186.1 in March, 2004.
So a bag of groceries in 1984 cost 102.6 / 186.1 or 55% of what it costs today.
Of course the dollar cost then and now depends on what's in the bag.
You can find price comparisons for specific items at
http://data.bls.gov/labjava/outside.jsp?survey=ap
For example, a pound of hamburger was $1.79 in March, 1984 compared to
$2.37 in March, 2004.
A pound of butter (4 sticks) went from $2.05 to $3.34
One night in a hospital
Here the best source is
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/review/supp/2001/table96.pdf
Medicaid paid $2,552 per patient for in-hospital stays in 1984,
compared to $4,943 in 1999.
We need to divide this by the number of nights per average stay.
That's approximately 3 days
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m4149/3_38/103731433/p7/article.jhtml?term=
or $800 per day in 1984.
Search terms used include:
hospital stay days
movie ticket inflation 1984
"market basket"
CPI
restaurant average meal price
--and many more--
Thanks again for bringing us your question. If you find any of the
above unclear, please request clarification. I would appreciate it if
you would hold off on rating my answer until I have a chance to reply.
Sincerely,
Google Answers Researcher
Richard-ga |
