$100 in 1990 is worth $127 in 1999,
because prices increased 27.5% over that period, an average of
2.73% a year.
$100 in 1990 has
the same buying power as
$127
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
27.5%
Average inflation rate
2.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$127
Price difference ($100 base)
$27.47
CPI in 1990
130.7
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1990 → 1999
$127
$100 in 1999 → 1990
$78.45
What happened to prices between 1990 and 1999
Between 1990 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 130.7 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 27.5%, which works out to an average of
2.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1990 bought what
$0.78 buys in 1999: the 1990 dollar
lost 21.5% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 1999 at the same ratio, 1.27: $1,000 becomes
$1,275, and $10,000 becomes $12,747.
Amount in 1990
Value in 1999
$1.00
$1.27
$5.00
$6.37
$10.00
$12.75
$20.00
$25.49
$50.00
$63.73
$100
$127
$500
$637
$1,000
$1,275
$5,000
$6,373
$10,000
$12,747
$100,000
$127,467
$1,000,000
$1,274,675
Inflation by spending category, 1990–1999
Between 1990 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 53.9%, while energy rose the least, up 4.4%, against 27.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1990
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1990 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.73%
$127
Medical care
4.91%
$154
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.01%
$131
Housing
2.74%
$128
Food
2.41%
$124
Transportation
2.03%
$120
Apparel
0.63%
$106
Energy
0.48%
$104
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 $113 by
1994, on its way to $127 in 1999; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1990 had the buying
power of $127; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1990 to 1999: $100 is worth $127 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1990 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-1999/