$100 in 1991 is worth $109 in 1994,
because prices increased 8.8% over that period, an average of
2.85% a year.
$100 in 1991 has
the same buying power as
$109
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
8.8%
Average inflation rate
2.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$109
Price difference ($100 base)
$8.81
CPI in 1991
136.2
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1991 → 1994
$109
$100 in 1994 → 1991
$91.90
What happened to prices between 1991 and 1994
Between 1991 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 136.2 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 8.8%, which works out to an average of
2.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1991 bought what
$0.92 buys in 1994: the 1991 dollar
lost 8.1% of its purchasing power over
these 3 years.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
Every 1991 amount converts to 1994 at the same ratio, 1.09: $1,000 becomes
$1,088, and $10,000 becomes $10,881.
Amount in 1991
Value in 1994
$1.00
$1.09
$5.00
$5.44
$10.00
$10.88
$20.00
$21.76
$50.00
$54.41
$100
$109
$500
$544
$1,000
$1,088
$5,000
$5,441
$10,000
$10,881
$100,000
$108,811
$1,000,000
$1,088,106
Inflation by spending category, 1991–1994
Between 1991 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 19.2%, while energy rose the least, up 2.0%, against 8.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1991
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1991 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.85%
$109
Medical care
6.03%
$119
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.27%
$110
Transportation
2.75%
$108
Housing
2.72%
$108
Food
1.92%
$106
Apparel
1.20%
$104
Energy
0.68%
$102
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1991: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1991
$100 from 1991 had already become $103 by
1992, on its way to $109 in 1994; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.0% in 1992, and the smallest rise was 2.6% in 1994.
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1991 had the buying
power of $109; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1991 to 1994: $100 is worth $109 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1991 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-1994/