$100 in 1988 is worth $181 in 2009,
because prices increased 81.3% over that period, an average of
2.88% a year.
$100 in 1988 has
the same buying power as
$181
in 2009
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
81.3%
Average inflation rate
2.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$181
Price difference ($100 base)
$81.35
CPI in 1988
118.3
CPI in 2009
214.537
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
Inflation in 2009
-0.36%
$100 in 1988 → 2009
$181
$100 in 2009 → 1988
$55.14
What happened to prices between 1988 and 2009
Between 1988 and 2009, the Consumer Price Index went from 118.3 to 214.537.
Cumulatively, prices increased 81.3%, which works out to an average of
2.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1988 bought what
$0.55 buys in 2009: the 1988 dollar
lost 44.9% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 2009 at the same ratio, 1.81: $1,000 becomes
$1,813, and $10,000 becomes $18,135.
Amount in 1988
Value in 2009
$1.00
$1.81
$5.00
$9.07
$10.00
$18.13
$20.00
$36.27
$50.00
$90.67
$100
$181
$500
$907
$1,000
$1,813
$5,000
$9,067
$10,000
$18,135
$100,000
$181,350
$1,000,000
$1,813,500
Inflation by spending category, 1988–2009
Between 1988 and 2009, medical care rose the most, up 171.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 4.1%, against 81.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1988
spending costs in 2009, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1988 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.88%
$181
Medical care
4.86%
$271
Energy
3.74%
$216
Food
2.96%
$184
Housing
2.92%
$183
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.77%
$178
Transportation
2.41%
$165
Apparel
0.19%
$104
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1988: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1988 to 2009
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 5.11% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.47% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1988–2009 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
2000–2009
2.47%
24.6%
$181
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1988
$100 from 1988 had already become $138 by
1998, on its way to $181 in 2009; 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.
In 2009, prices fell 0.4% and $100 from 1988 had the buying
power of $181; the year's average CPI of 214.537 is the level
behind every 2009 figure on this page.
2009 is the rarest kind of year in the modern price data: one where the cost
of living went down. The CPI fell 0.4%, the first full-year deflation
since 1955, as the Great Recession hollowed out demand and oil unwound from
its $147 spike the summer before. Gasoline that had cost over $4 a gallon in
July 2008 averaged $2.35 in 2009, and that energy collapse dragged the
12-month inflation rate to −2.1% by July, the deepest reading since 1950.
Policymakers treated falling prices not as relief but as a warning: deflation
raises the real weight of debt precisely when households are drowning in it,
which is why the Federal Reserve pinned interest rates near zero, began buying
bonds by the hundreds of billions, and Washington passed a $787 billion
stimulus. The medicine took: prices stabilized within a year, and 2009 remains
the textbook case of why central banks fear deflation more than moderate
inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1988 to 2009: $100 is worth $181 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1988-to-2009/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1988 to 2009. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1988-to-2009/