$100 in 1990 is worth $113 in 1994,
because prices increased 13.4% over that period, an average of
3.19% a year.
$100 in 1990 has
the same buying power as
$113
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
13.4%
Average inflation rate
3.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$113
Price difference ($100 base)
$13.39
CPI in 1990
130.7
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1990 → 1994
$113
$100 in 1994 → 1990
$88.19
What happened to prices between 1990 and 1994
Between 1990 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 130.7 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 13.4%, which works out to an average of
3.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1990 bought what
$0.88 buys in 1994: the 1990 dollar
lost 11.8% of its purchasing power over
these 4 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 1994 at the same ratio, 1.13: $1,000 becomes
$1,134, and $10,000 becomes $11,339.
Amount in 1990
Value in 1994
$1.00
$1.13
$5.00
$5.67
$10.00
$11.34
$20.00
$22.68
$50.00
$56.69
$100
$113
$500
$567
$1,000
$1,134
$5,000
$5,669
$10,000
$11,339
$100,000
$113,389
$1,000,000
$1,133,894
Inflation by spending category, 1990–1994
Between 1990 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 29.6%, while energy rose the least, up 2.4%, against 13.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1990
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1990 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.19%
$113
Medical care
6.70%
$130
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.67%
$115
Housing
3.03%
$113
Transportation
2.75%
$111
Food
2.17%
$109
Apparel
1.82%
$107
Energy
0.61%
$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 $107 by
1992, on its way to $113 in 1994; 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 2.6% in 1994.
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1990 had the buying
power of $113; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1990 to 1994: $100 is worth $113 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1990 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-1994/