$100 in 1990 is worth $172 in 2011,
because prices increased 72.1% over that period, an average of
2.62% a year.
$100 in 1990 has
the same buying power as
$172
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
72.1%
Average inflation rate
2.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$172
Price difference ($100 base)
$72.10
CPI in 1990
130.7
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1990 → 2011
$172
$100 in 2011 → 1990
$58.10
What happened to prices between 1990 and 2011
Between 1990 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 130.7 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 72.1%, which works out to an average of
2.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1990 bought what
$0.58 buys in 2011: the 1990 dollar
lost 41.9% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 2011 at the same ratio, 1.72: $1,000 becomes
$1,721, and $10,000 becomes $17,210.
Amount in 1990
Value in 2011
$1.00
$1.72
$5.00
$8.61
$10.00
$17.21
$20.00
$34.42
$50.00
$86.05
$100
$172
$500
$861
$1,000
$1,721
$5,000
$8,605
$10,000
$17,210
$100,000
$172,103
$1,000,000
$1,721,033
Inflation by spending category, 1990–2011
Between 1990 and 2011, medical care rose the most, up 145.9%, while apparel fell 1.6%, against 72.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1990
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1990 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.62%
$172
Medical care
4.38%
$246
Energy
4.23%
$239
Transportation
2.74%
$176
Food
2.62%
$172
Housing
2.57%
$171
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.44%
$166
Apparel
-0.08%
$98.40
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1990: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1990 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 3.16% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1990–2011 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1990, at end
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$132
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$167
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$172
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1990
$100 from 1990 had already become $132 by
2000, on its way to $172 in 2011; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1990 had the buying
power of $172; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1990 to 2011: $100 is worth $172 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1990 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2011/