$100 in 1985 is worth $127 in 1991,
because prices increased 26.6% over that period, an average of
4.01% a year.
$100 in 1985 has
the same buying power as
$127
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
26.6%
Average inflation rate
4.01% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$127
Price difference ($100 base)
$26.58
CPI in 1985
107.6
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1985 → 1991
$127
$100 in 1991 → 1985
$79.00
What happened to prices between 1985 and 1991
Between 1985 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 107.6 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 26.6%, which works out to an average of
4.01% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1985 bought what
$0.79 buys in 1991: the 1985 dollar
lost 21.0% of its purchasing power over
these 6 years.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
Every 1985 amount converts to 1991 at the same ratio, 1.27: $1,000 becomes
$1,266, and $10,000 becomes $12,658.
Amount in 1985
Value in 1991
$1.00
$1.27
$5.00
$6.33
$10.00
$12.66
$20.00
$25.32
$50.00
$63.29
$100
$127
$500
$633
$1,000
$1,266
$5,000
$6,329
$10,000
$12,658
$100,000
$126,580
$1,000,000
$1,265,799
Inflation by spending category, 1985–1991
Between 1985 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 55.9%, while energy rose the least, up 0.9%, against 26.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1985
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1985 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.01%
$127
Medical care
7.69%
$156
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.50%
$130
Food
4.35%
$129
Housing
3.66%
$124
Apparel
3.45%
$123
Transportation
2.56%
$116
Energy
0.15%
$101
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1985: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1985 to 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 4.21% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (3.97% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1985–1991 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1985, at end
1985–1990
3.97%
21.5%
$121
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$127
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1985
$100 from 1985 had already become $110 by
1988, on its way to $127 in 1991; 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 the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1985 had the buying
power of $127; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1985 to 1991: $100 is worth $127 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1985 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-1991/