$100 in 1991 is worth $120 in 1998,
because prices increased 19.7% over that period, an average of
2.60% a year.
$100 in 1991 has
the same buying power as
$120
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
19.7%
Average inflation rate
2.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$120
Price difference ($100 base)
$19.68
CPI in 1991
136.2
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1991 → 1998
$120
$100 in 1998 → 1991
$83.56
What happened to prices between 1991 and 1998
Between 1991 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 136.2 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 19.7%, which works out to an average of
2.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1991 bought what
$0.84 buys in 1998: the 1991 dollar
lost 16.4% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 1998 at the same ratio, 1.20: $1,000 becomes
$1,197, and $10,000 becomes $11,968.
Amount in 1991
Value in 1998
$1.00
$1.20
$5.00
$5.98
$10.00
$11.97
$20.00
$23.94
$50.00
$59.84
$100
$120
$500
$598
$1,000
$1,197
$5,000
$5,984
$10,000
$11,968
$100,000
$119,677
$1,000,000
$1,196,769
Inflation by spending category, 1991–1998
Between 1991 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 36.8%, while energy rose the least, up 0.4%, against 19.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1991
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1991 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.60%
$120
Medical care
4.58%
$137
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.88%
$122
Housing
2.65%
$120
Food
2.38%
$118
Transportation
1.94%
$114
Apparel
0.47%
$103
Energy
0.06%
$100
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 $109 by
1994, on its way to $120 in 1998; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1991 had the buying
power of $120; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1991 to 1998: $100 is worth $120 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1991 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-1998/