$100 in 1990 is worth $111 in 1993,
because prices increased 10.6% over that period, an average of
3.40% a year.
$100 in 1990 has
the same buying power as
$111
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
10.6%
Average inflation rate
3.40% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$111
Price difference ($100 base)
$10.56
CPI in 1990
130.7
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1990 → 1993
$111
$100 in 1993 → 1990
$90.45
What happened to prices between 1990 and 1993
Between 1990 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 130.7 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 10.6%, which works out to an average of
3.40% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1990 bought what
$0.90 buys in 1993: the 1990 dollar
lost 9.6% of its purchasing power over
these 3 years.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
Every 1990 amount converts to 1993 at the same ratio, 1.11: $1,000 becomes
$1,106, and $10,000 becomes $11,056.
Amount in 1990
Value in 1993
$1.00
$1.11
$5.00
$5.53
$10.00
$11.06
$20.00
$22.11
$50.00
$55.28
$100
$111
$500
$553
$1,000
$1,106
$5,000
$5,528
$10,000
$11,056
$100,000
$110,559
$1,000,000
$1,105,585
Inflation by spending category, 1990–1993
Between 1990 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 23.7%, while energy rose the least, up 2.1%, against 10.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1990
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1990 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.40%
$111
Medical care
7.35%
$124
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.95%
$112
Housing
3.19%
$110
Transportation
2.67%
$108
Apparel
2.51%
$108
Food
2.10%
$106
Energy
0.68%
$102
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1990: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1990
$100 from 1990 had already become $104 by
1991, on its way to $111 in 1993; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 4.2% in 1991, and the smallest rise was 3.0% in 1993.
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1990 had the buying
power of $111; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1990 to 1993: $100 is worth $111 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1990 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-1993/