$100 in 1990 is worth $176 in 2012,
because prices increased 75.7% over that period, an average of
2.59% a year.
$100 in 1990 has
the same buying power as
$176
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
75.7%
Average inflation rate
2.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$176
Price difference ($100 base)
$75.66
CPI in 1990
130.7
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1990 → 2012
$176
$100 in 2012 → 1990
$56.93
What happened to prices between 1990 and 2012
Between 1990 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 130.7 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 75.7%, which works out to an average of
2.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1990 bought what
$0.57 buys in 2012: the 1990 dollar
lost 43.1% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 2012 at the same ratio, 1.76: $1,000 becomes
$1,757, and $10,000 becomes $17,566.
Amount in 1990
Value in 2012
$1.00
$1.76
$5.00
$8.78
$10.00
$17.57
$20.00
$35.13
$50.00
$87.83
$100
$176
$500
$878
$1,000
$1,757
$5,000
$8,783
$10,000
$17,566
$100,000
$175,665
$1,000,000
$1,756,649
Inflation by spending category, 1990–2012
Between 1990 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 154.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 1.7%, against 75.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1990
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1990 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.59%
$176
Medical care
4.34%
$255
Energy
4.08%
$241
Transportation
2.72%
$180
Food
2.62%
$177
Housing
2.53%
$173
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.43%
$170
Apparel
0.08%
$102
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1990: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1990 to 2012
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.80% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1990–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$176
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1990
$100 from 1990 had already become $136 by
2001, on its way to $176 in 2012; 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 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1990 had the buying
power of $176; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1990 to 2012: $100 is worth $176 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1990 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2012/