$100 in 1989 is worth $174 in 2008,
because prices increased 73.6% over that period, an average of
2.95% a year.
$100 in 1989 has
the same buying power as
$174
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
73.6%
Average inflation rate
2.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$174
Price difference ($100 base)
$73.63
CPI in 1989
124
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1989
4.82%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1989 → 2008
$174
$100 in 2008 → 1989
$57.59
What happened to prices between 1989 and 2008
Between 1989 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 124 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 73.6%, which works out to an average of
2.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1989 bought what
$0.58 buys in 2008: the 1989 dollar
lost 42.4% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 2008 at the same ratio, 1.74: $1,000 becomes
$1,736, and $10,000 becomes $17,363.
Amount in 1989
Value in 2008
$1.00
$1.74
$5.00
$8.68
$10.00
$17.36
$20.00
$34.73
$50.00
$86.82
$100
$174
$500
$868
$1,000
$1,736
$5,000
$8,682
$10,000
$17,363
$100,000
$173,631
$1,000,000
$1,736,315
Inflation by spending category, 1989–2008
Between 1989 and 2008, energy rose the most, up 151.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 0.3%, against 73.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1989
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1989 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.95%
$174
Energy
4.96%
$251
Medical care
4.80%
$244
Housing
3.01%
$176
Transportation
2.88%
$171
Food
2.87%
$171
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.74%
$167
Apparel
0.01%
$100
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1989: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1989 to 2008
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 1989–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$174
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1989
$100 from 1989 had already become $131 by
1998, on its way to $174 in 2008; 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 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1989 had the buying
power of $174; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1989 to 2008: $100 is worth $174 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1989-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1989 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1989-to-2008/