$100 in 1990 is worth $159 in 2007,
because prices increased 58.6% over that period, an average of
2.75% a year.
$100 in 1990 has
the same buying power as
$159
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
58.6%
Average inflation rate
2.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$159
Price difference ($100 base)
$58.64
CPI in 1990
130.7
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1990 → 2007
$159
$100 in 2007 → 1990
$63.04
What happened to prices between 1990 and 2007
Between 1990 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 130.7 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 58.6%, which works out to an average of
2.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1990 bought what
$0.63 buys in 2007: the 1990 dollar
lost 37.0% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2007 at the same ratio, 1.59: $1,000 becomes
$1,586, and $10,000 becomes $15,864.
Amount in 1990
Value in 2007
$1.00
$1.59
$5.00
$7.93
$10.00
$15.86
$20.00
$31.73
$50.00
$79.32
$100
$159
$500
$793
$1,000
$1,586
$5,000
$7,932
$10,000
$15,864
$100,000
$158,640
$1,000,000
$1,586,396
Inflation by spending category, 1990–2007
Between 1990 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 115.6%, while apparel fell 4.1%, against 58.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1990
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1990 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.75%
$159
Medical care
4.62%
$216
Energy
4.27%
$203
Housing
2.92%
$163
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.63%
$156
Transportation
2.54%
$153
Food
2.54%
$153
Apparel
-0.25%
$95.89
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1990: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1990 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.80% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1990–2007 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1990, at end
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$132
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$159
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1990
$100 from 1990 had already become $125 by
1998, on its way to $159 in 2007; 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 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1990 had the buying
power of $159; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1990 to 2007: $100 is worth $159 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1990 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2007/