Between 1990 and 2022, the Consumer Price Index went from 130.7 to 292.655.
Cumulatively, prices increased 123.9%, which works out to an average of
2.55% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1990 bought what
$0.45 buys in 2022.
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.
The headline number is an average. Individual categories moved very differently over this
period. Here is what $100 of 1990 spending costs in 2022, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1990 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.55%
$224
Medical care
3.86%
$336
Energy
3.41%
$292
Housing
2.69%
$234
Food
2.65%
$231
Transportation
2.51%
$221
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.45%
$217
Apparel
0.07%
$102
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1990: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2022
2022 was the year inflation returned. Consumer prices rose 8.0% on average,
the worst since 1981, driven by pandemic-era supply chains, stimulus-fueled
demand, and an energy shock from the war in Ukraine. Gas briefly topped $5 a
gallon nationally for the first time ever, and “inflation” became the
top-ranked economic concern in nearly every poll of American households.
MLA: “Inflation from 1990 to 2022: $100 is worth $224 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2022/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1990 to 2022. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2022/