$100 in 1988 is worth $200 in 2015,
because prices increased 100.4% over that period, an average of
2.61% a year.
$100 in 1988 has
the same buying power as
$200
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
100.4%
Average inflation rate
2.61% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$200
Price difference ($100 base)
$100
CPI in 1988
118.3
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1988 → 2015
$200
$100 in 2015 → 1988
$49.91
What happened to prices between 1988 and 2015
Between 1988 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 118.3 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 100.4%, which works out to an average of
2.61% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1988 bought what
$0.50 buys in 2015: the 1988 dollar
lost 50.1% of its purchasing power over
these 27 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 2015 at the same ratio, 2.00: $1,000 becomes
$2,004, and $10,000 becomes $20,035.
Amount in 1988
Value in 2015
$1.00
$2.00
$5.00
$10.02
$10.00
$20.04
$20.00
$40.07
$50.00
$100
$100
$200
$500
$1,002
$1,000
$2,004
$5,000
$10,018
$10,000
$20,035
$100,000
$200,352
$1,000,000
$2,003,525
Inflation by spending category, 1988–2015
Between 1988 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 222.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 9.1%, against 100.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1988
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1988 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.61%
$200
Medical care
4.43%
$322
Energy
3.09%
$227
Food
2.77%
$209
Housing
2.62%
$201
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.53%
$196
Transportation
2.27%
$183
Apparel
0.32%
$109
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1988: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1988 to 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 5.11% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1988–2015 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$184
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$200
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1988
$100 from 1988 had already become $150 by
2001, on its way to $200 in 2015; 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 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1988 had the buying
power of $200; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1988 to 2015: $100 is worth $200 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1988-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1988 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1988-to-2015/