$100 in 1991 is worth $132 in 2002,
because prices increased 32.1% over that period, an average of
2.56% a year.
$100 in 1991 has
the same buying power as
$132
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
32.1%
Average inflation rate
2.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$132
Price difference ($100 base)
$32.09
CPI in 1991
136.2
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1991 → 2002
$132
$100 in 2002 → 1991
$75.71
What happened to prices between 1991 and 2002
Between 1991 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 136.2 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 32.1%, which works out to an average of
2.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1991 bought what
$0.76 buys in 2002: the 1991 dollar
lost 24.3% of its purchasing power over
these 11 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 2002 at the same ratio, 1.32: $1,000 becomes
$1,321, and $10,000 becomes $13,209.
Amount in 1991
Value in 2002
$1.00
$1.32
$5.00
$6.60
$10.00
$13.21
$20.00
$26.42
$50.00
$66.04
$100
$132
$500
$660
$1,000
$1,321
$5,000
$6,604
$10,000
$13,209
$100,000
$132,085
$1,000,000
$1,320,852
Inflation by spending category, 1991–2002
Between 1991 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 61.4%, while apparel fell 3.7%, against 32.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1991
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1991 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.56%
$132
Medical care
4.45%
$161
Housing
2.76%
$135
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.70%
$134
Food
2.36%
$129
Transportation
1.94%
$124
Energy
1.57%
$119
Apparel
-0.34%
$96.35
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1991: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1991 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.64% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1991–2002 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1991, at end
1991–2000
2.64%
26.4%
$126
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$132
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1991
$100 from 1991 had already become $115 by
1996, on its way to $132 in 2002; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2000, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1991 had the buying
power of $132; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1991 to 2002: $100 is worth $132 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1991 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2002/