$100 in 1991 is worth $169 in 2012,
because prices increased 68.6% over that period, an average of
2.52% a year.
$100 in 1991 has
the same buying power as
$169
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
68.6%
Average inflation rate
2.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$169
Price difference ($100 base)
$68.57
CPI in 1991
136.2
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1991 → 2012
$169
$100 in 2012 → 1991
$59.32
What happened to prices between 1991 and 2012
Between 1991 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 136.2 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 68.6%, which works out to an average of
2.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1991 bought what
$0.59 buys in 2012: the 1991 dollar
lost 40.7% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 2012 at the same ratio, 1.69: $1,000 becomes
$1,686, and $10,000 becomes $16,857.
Amount in 1991
Value in 2012
$1.00
$1.69
$5.00
$8.43
$10.00
$16.86
$20.00
$33.71
$50.00
$84.29
$100
$169
$500
$843
$1,000
$1,686
$5,000
$8,429
$10,000
$16,857
$100,000
$168,571
$1,000,000
$1,685,712
Inflation by spending category, 1991–2012
Between 1991 and 2012, energy rose the most, up 140.1%, while apparel fell 1.9%, against 68.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1991
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1991 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.52%
$169
Energy
4.26%
$240
Medical care
4.14%
$234
Transportation
2.72%
$176
Food
2.60%
$172
Housing
2.46%
$167
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.31%
$162
Apparel
-0.09%
$98.11
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1991: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1991 to 2012
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.64% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1991–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$169
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1991
$100 from 1991 had already become $130 by
2001, on its way to $169 in 2012; 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 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1991 had the buying
power of $169; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1991 to 2012: $100 is worth $169 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1991 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2012/