$100 in 1991 is worth $165 in 2011,
because prices increased 65.2% over that period, an average of
2.54% a year.
$100 in 1991 has
the same buying power as
$165
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
65.2%
Average inflation rate
2.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$165
Price difference ($100 base)
$65.15
CPI in 1991
136.2
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1991 → 2011
$165
$100 in 2011 → 1991
$60.55
What happened to prices between 1991 and 2011
Between 1991 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 136.2 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 65.2%, which works out to an average of
2.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1991 bought what
$0.61 buys in 2011: the 1991 dollar
lost 39.5% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 2011 at the same ratio, 1.65: $1,000 becomes
$1,652, and $10,000 becomes $16,515.
Amount in 1991
Value in 2011
$1.00
$1.65
$5.00
$8.26
$10.00
$16.52
$20.00
$33.03
$50.00
$82.58
$100
$165
$500
$826
$1,000
$1,652
$5,000
$8,258
$10,000
$16,515
$100,000
$165,153
$1,000,000
$1,651,535
Inflation by spending category, 1991–2011
Between 1991 and 2011, energy rose the most, up 138.0%, while apparel fell 5.1%, against 65.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1991
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1991 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.54%
$165
Energy
4.43%
$238
Medical care
4.16%
$226
Transportation
2.73%
$172
Food
2.60%
$167
Housing
2.50%
$164
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.32%
$158
Apparel
-0.26%
$94.88
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1991: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1991 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 3.16% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1991–2011 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1991, at end
1991–2000
2.64%
26.4%
$126
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$160
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$165
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1991
$100 from 1991 had already become $130 by
2001, on its way to $165 in 2011; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.8% in 2008, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1991 had the buying
power of $165; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1991 to 2011: $100 is worth $165 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1991 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2011/