$100 in 1990 is worth $224 in 2022,
because prices increased 123.9% over that period, an average of
2.55% a year.
$100 in 1990 has
the same buying power as
$224
in 2022
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
123.9%
Average inflation rate
2.55% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$224
Price difference ($100 base)
$124
CPI in 1990
130.7
CPI in 2022
292.655
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
Inflation in 2022
8.00%
$100 in 1990 → 2022
$224
$100 in 2022 → 1990
$44.66
What happened to prices between 1990 and 2022
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: the 1990 dollar
lost 55.3% of its purchasing power over
these 32 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 2022 at the same ratio, 2.24: $1,000 becomes
$2,239, and $10,000 becomes $22,391.
Amount in 1990
Value in 2022
$1.00
$2.24
$5.00
$11.20
$10.00
$22.39
$20.00
$44.78
$50.00
$112
$100
$224
$500
$1,120
$1,000
$2,239
$5,000
$11,196
$10,000
$22,391
$100,000
$223,914
$1,000,000
$2,239,135
Inflation by spending category, 1990–2022
Between 1990 and 2022, medical care rose the most, up 235.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 2.4%, against 123.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; 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–).
Decade by decade: 1990 to 2022
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 6.34% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1990–2022 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$198
2020–2022
6.34%
13.1%
$224
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1990
$100 from 1990 had already become $154 by
2006, on its way to $224 in 2022; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 8.0% in 2022, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2022
In 2022, prices rose 8.0% and $100 from 1990 had the buying
power of $224; the year's average CPI of 292.655 is the level
behind every 2022 figure on this page.
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/