$100 in 1989 is worth $139 in 2000,
because prices increased 38.9% over that period, an average of
3.03% a year.
$100 in 1989 has
the same buying power as
$139
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
38.9%
Average inflation rate
3.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$139
Price difference ($100 base)
$38.87
CPI in 1989
124
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1989
4.82%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1989 → 2000
$139
$100 in 2000 → 1989
$72.01
What happened to prices between 1989 and 2000
Between 1989 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 124 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 38.9%, which works out to an average of
3.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1989 bought what
$0.72 buys in 2000: the 1989 dollar
lost 28.0% of its purchasing power over
these 11 years.
1989 closed out a decade that began in economic crisis and ended in a long,
calmer expansion. Inflation for the year came in at 4.8%, higher than the
mid-decade lull but still roughly a third of the 13.5% peak that had opened
the decade in 1980. The federal minimum wage, unchanged at $3.35 an hour
since January 1981, had gone longer without an increase than at any point
since Congress created it, and had lost close to a third of its purchasing
power to inflation in the meantime; lawmakers would finally raise it to
$3.80 the following April. The decade’s other unfinished business came due
in August, when Congress passed FIRREA, the law that created the Resolution
Trust Corporation to seize and sell off the hundreds of savings and loan
institutions that a decade of deregulation and risky lending had left
insolvent, a bailout that eventually cost taxpayers over $100 billion. On
Wall Street, the recovery was already complete: the Dow Jones Industrial
Average closed 1989 at a record high, just over two years after Black
Monday’s 22.6% single-day crash, capping the bull market that had begun at
the Dow’s 776 low in August 1982. Between the S&L bailout, a wage floor
eroded by years without a raise, and a stock market at new highs, 1989
captured how unevenly the decade’s disinflation had been felt.
Every 1989 amount converts to 2000 at the same ratio, 1.39: $1,000 becomes
$1,389, and $10,000 becomes $13,887.
Amount in 1989
Value in 2000
$1.00
$1.39
$5.00
$6.94
$10.00
$13.89
$20.00
$27.77
$50.00
$69.44
$100
$139
$500
$694
$1,000
$1,389
$5,000
$6,944
$10,000
$13,887
$100,000
$138,871
$1,000,000
$1,388,710
Inflation by spending category, 1989–2000
Between 1989 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 74.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 9.3%, against 38.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1989
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1989 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.03%
$139
Medical care
5.20%
$175
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.14%
$141
Housing
2.96%
$138
Transportation
2.72%
$134
Food
2.71%
$134
Energy
2.57%
$132
Apparel
0.81%
$109
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1989: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1989 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 5.40% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1989–2000 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1989, at end
1989–1990
5.40%
5.4%
$105
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$139
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1989
$100 from 1989 had already become $120 by
1994, on its way to $139 in 2000; 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 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1989 had the buying
power of $139; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1989 to 2000: $100 is worth $139 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1989-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1989 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1989-to-2000/