$100 in 1991 is worth $188 in 2019,
because prices increased 87.7% over that period, an average of
2.27% a year.
$100 in 1991 has
the same buying power as
$188
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
87.7%
Average inflation rate
2.27% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$188
Price difference ($100 base)
$87.71
CPI in 1991
136.2
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1991 → 2019
$188
$100 in 2019 → 1991
$53.27
What happened to prices between 1991 and 2019
Between 1991 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 136.2 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 87.7%, which works out to an average of
2.27% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1991 bought what
$0.53 buys in 2019: the 1991 dollar
lost 46.7% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 2019 at the same ratio, 1.88: $1,000 becomes
$1,877, and $10,000 becomes $18,771.
Amount in 1991
Value in 2019
$1.00
$1.88
$5.00
$9.39
$10.00
$18.77
$20.00
$37.54
$50.00
$93.85
$100
$188
$500
$939
$1,000
$1,877
$5,000
$9,385
$10,000
$18,771
$100,000
$187,707
$1,000,000
$1,877,070
Inflation by spending category, 1991–2019
Between 1991 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 181.6%, while apparel fell 3.6%, against 87.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1991
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1991 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.27%
$188
Medical care
3.77%
$282
Energy
2.69%
$210
Housing
2.49%
$199
Food
2.31%
$190
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.23%
$185
Transportation
1.91%
$170
Apparel
-0.13%
$96.39
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1991: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1991 to 2019
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.64% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1991–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$188
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1991
$100 from 1991 had already become $143 by
2005, on its way to $188 in 2019; 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 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1991 had the buying
power of $188; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1991 to 2019: $100 is worth $188 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1991 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2019/