$100 in 1991 is worth $122 in 1999,
because prices increased 22.3% over that period, an average of
2.55% a year.
$100 in 1991 has
the same buying power as
$122
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
22.3%
Average inflation rate
2.55% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$122
Price difference ($100 base)
$22.32
CPI in 1991
136.2
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1991 → 1999
$122
$100 in 1999 → 1991
$81.75
What happened to prices between 1991 and 1999
Between 1991 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 136.2 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 22.3%, which works out to an average of
2.55% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1991 bought what
$0.82 buys in 1999: the 1991 dollar
lost 18.2% of its purchasing power over
these 8 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 1999 at the same ratio, 1.22: $1,000 becomes
$1,223, and $10,000 becomes $12,232.
Amount in 1991
Value in 1999
$1.00
$1.22
$5.00
$6.12
$10.00
$12.23
$20.00
$24.46
$50.00
$61.16
$100
$122
$500
$612
$1,000
$1,223
$5,000
$6,116
$10,000
$12,232
$100,000
$122,320
$1,000,000
$1,223,201
Inflation by spending category, 1991–1999
Between 1991 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 41.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 2.0%, against 22.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1991
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1991 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.55%
$122
Medical care
4.44%
$142
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.78%
$125
Housing
2.59%
$123
Food
2.35%
$120
Transportation
1.94%
$117
Energy
0.49%
$104
Apparel
0.25%
$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 $112 by
1995, on its way to $122 in 1999; 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 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1991 had the buying
power of $122; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1991 to 1999: $100 is worth $122 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1991 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-1999/