$100 in 1990 is worth $149 in 2005,
because prices increased 49.4% over that period, an average of
2.71% a year.
$100 in 1990 has
the same buying power as
$149
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
49.4%
Average inflation rate
2.71% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$149
Price difference ($100 base)
$49.43
CPI in 1990
130.7
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1990 → 2005
$149
$100 in 2005 → 1990
$66.92
What happened to prices between 1990 and 2005
Between 1990 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 130.7 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 49.4%, which works out to an average of
2.71% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1990 bought what
$0.67 buys in 2005: the 1990 dollar
lost 33.1% of its purchasing power over
these 15 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 2005 at the same ratio, 1.49: $1,000 becomes
$1,494, and $10,000 becomes $14,943.
Amount in 1990
Value in 2005
$1.00
$1.49
$5.00
$7.47
$10.00
$14.94
$20.00
$29.89
$50.00
$74.71
$100
$149
$500
$747
$1,000
$1,494
$5,000
$7,471
$10,000
$14,943
$100,000
$149,426
$1,000,000
$1,494,262
Inflation by spending category, 1990–2005
Between 1990 and 2005, medical care rose the most, up 98.5%, while apparel fell 3.7%, against 49.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1990
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1990 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.71%
$149
Medical care
4.68%
$199
Energy
3.74%
$173
Housing
2.84%
$152
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.66%
$148
Transportation
2.48%
$144
Food
2.46%
$144
Apparel
-0.25%
$96.29
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1990: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1990 to 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.80% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.55% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1990–2005 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1990, at end
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$132
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$149
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1990
$100 from 1990 had already become $123 by
1997, on its way to $149 in 2005; 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 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1990 had the buying
power of $149; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1990 to 2005: $100 is worth $149 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1990 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2005/