$100 in 1988 is worth $229 in 2021,
because prices increased 129.1% over that period, an average of
2.54% a year.
$100 in 1988 has
the same buying power as
$229
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
129.1%
Average inflation rate
2.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$229
Price difference ($100 base)
$129
CPI in 1988
118.3
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 1988 → 2021
$229
$100 in 2021 → 1988
$43.66
What happened to prices between 1988 and 2021
Between 1988 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 118.3 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 129.1%, which works out to an average of
2.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1988 bought what
$0.44 buys in 2021: the 1988 dollar
lost 56.3% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 2021 at the same ratio, 2.29: $1,000 becomes
$2,291, and $10,000 becomes $22,905.
Amount in 1988
Value in 2021
$1.00
$2.29
$5.00
$11.45
$10.00
$22.91
$20.00
$45.81
$50.00
$115
$100
$229
$500
$1,145
$1,000
$2,291
$5,000
$11,453
$10,000
$22,905
$100,000
$229,053
$1,000,000
$2,290,533
Inflation by spending category, 1988–2021
Between 1988 and 2021, medical care rose the most, up 279.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 4.8%, against 129.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1988
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1988 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.54%
$229
Medical care
4.12%
$379
Energy
3.02%
$267
Housing
2.65%
$237
Food
2.62%
$235
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.48%
$225
Transportation
2.31%
$212
Apparel
0.14%
$105
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1988: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1988 to 2021
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 5.11% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1988–2021 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$219
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$229
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1988
$100 from 1988 had already become $160 by
2004, on its way to $229 in 2021; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2021
In 2021, prices rose 4.7% and $100 from 1988 had the buying
power of $229; the year's average CPI of 270.97 is the level
behind every 2021 figure on this page.
2021 was the year inflation stopped being background noise. Consumer prices
rose 4.7% on average for the year, and the pace kept building as the months
went on: by December, the 12-month rate had reached 7.0%, the highest since
1982. The proximate cause was a supply chain that could not keep up with a
fast-reopening economy. A global semiconductor shortage choked new car
production and pushed used vehicle prices up by more than a third, the
single largest line item in the year’s inflation math. Lumber, appliances,
and shipping capacity told versions of the same story: demand snapped back
faster than factories, ports, and truckers could handle it. Washington added
fuel in March with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, on top of the
relief already in the pipeline since 2020. For most of the year, the Federal
Reserve called the price surge “transitory,” a temporary reopening effect
expected to fade on its own, and held its policy rate near zero. By
November, with inflation still climbing, the Fed reversed course and began
winding down its bond purchases, the first step toward the rate hikes that
would follow in 2022. Gas averaged $3.01 a gallon for the year, up from
about $2.17 in 2020, while the federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
unchanged since 2009. In hindsight, 2021 reads as the hinge year: the point
where “transitory” inflation became the multi-year fight the Fed spent the
next two years trying to win.
MLA: “Inflation from 1988 to 2021: $100 is worth $229 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1988-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1988 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1988-to-2021/