$100 in 1991 is worth $139 in 2004,
because prices increased 38.7% over that period, an average of
2.55% a year.
$100 in 1991 has
the same buying power as
$139
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
38.7%
Average inflation rate
2.55% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$139
Price difference ($100 base)
$38.69
CPI in 1991
136.2
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1991 → 2004
$139
$100 in 2004 → 1991
$72.10
What happened to prices between 1991 and 2004
Between 1991 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 136.2 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 38.7%, which works out to an average of
2.55% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1991 bought what
$0.72 buys in 2004: the 1991 dollar
lost 27.9% of its purchasing power over
these 13 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 2004 at the same ratio, 1.39: $1,000 becomes
$1,387, and $10,000 becomes $13,869.
Amount in 1991
Value in 2004
$1.00
$1.39
$5.00
$6.93
$10.00
$13.87
$20.00
$27.74
$50.00
$69.35
$100
$139
$500
$693
$1,000
$1,387
$5,000
$6,935
$10,000
$13,869
$100,000
$138,693
$1,000,000
$1,386,931
Inflation by spending category, 1991–2004
Between 1991 and 2004, medical care rose the most, up 75.2%, while apparel fell 6.4%, against 38.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1991
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1991 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.55%
$139
Medical care
4.41%
$175
Energy
3.05%
$148
Housing
2.73%
$142
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.53%
$138
Food
2.43%
$137
Transportation
2.14%
$132
Apparel
-0.51%
$93.55
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1991: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1991 to 2004
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.64% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.34% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1991–2004 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1991, at end
1991–2000
2.64%
26.4%
$126
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$139
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1991
$100 from 1991 had already become $118 by
1997, on its way to $139 in 2004; 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 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1991 had the buying
power of $139; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1991 to 2004: $100 is worth $139 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1991 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2004/