$100 in 1988 is worth $160 in 2004,
because prices increased 59.7% over that period, an average of
2.97% a year.
$100 in 1988 has
the same buying power as
$160
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
59.7%
Average inflation rate
2.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$160
Price difference ($100 base)
$59.68
CPI in 1988
118.3
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1988 → 2004
$160
$100 in 2004 → 1988
$62.63
What happened to prices between 1988 and 2004
Between 1988 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 118.3 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 59.7%, which works out to an average of
2.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1988 bought what
$0.63 buys in 2004: the 1988 dollar
lost 37.4% of its purchasing power over
these 16 years.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
Every 1988 amount converts to 2004 at the same ratio, 1.60: $1,000 becomes
$1,597, and $10,000 becomes $15,968.
Amount in 1988
Value in 2004
$1.00
$1.60
$5.00
$7.98
$10.00
$15.97
$20.00
$31.94
$50.00
$79.84
$100
$160
$500
$798
$1,000
$1,597
$5,000
$7,984
$10,000
$15,968
$100,000
$159,679
$1,000,000
$1,596,788
Inflation by spending category, 1988–2004
Between 1988 and 2004, medical care rose the most, up 123.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 4.3%, against 59.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1988
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1988 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.97%
$160
Medical care
5.16%
$224
Energy
3.35%
$170
Housing
2.98%
$160
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.95%
$159
Food
2.88%
$158
Transportation
2.57%
$150
Apparel
0.27%
$104
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1988: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1988 to 2004
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 5.11% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.34% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1988–2004 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1988, at end
1988–1990
5.11%
10.5%
$110
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$146
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$160
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1988
$100 from 1988 had already become $133 by
1996, on its way to $160 in 2004; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1988 had the buying
power of $160; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1988 to 2004: $100 is worth $160 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1988-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1988 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1988-to-2004/