$100 in 1991 is worth $230 in 2024,
because prices increased 130.3% over that period, an average of
2.56% a year.
$100 in 1991 has
the same buying power as
$230
in 2024
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
130.3%
Average inflation rate
2.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$230
Price difference ($100 base)
$130
CPI in 1991
136.2
CPI in 2024
313.689
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
Inflation in 2024
2.95%
$100 in 1991 → 2024
$230
$100 in 2024 → 1991
$43.42
What happened to prices between 1991 and 2024
Between 1991 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index went from 136.2 to 313.689.
Cumulatively, prices increased 130.3%, which works out to an average of
2.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1991 bought what
$0.43 buys in 2024: the 1991 dollar
lost 56.6% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 2024 at the same ratio, 2.30: $1,000 becomes
$2,303, and $10,000 becomes $23,031.
Amount in 1991
Value in 2024
$1.00
$2.30
$5.00
$11.52
$10.00
$23.03
$20.00
$46.06
$50.00
$115
$100
$230
$500
$1,152
$1,000
$2,303
$5,000
$11,516
$10,000
$23,031
$100,000
$230,315
$1,000,000
$2,303,150
Inflation by spending category, 1991–2024
Between 1991 and 2024, medical care rose the most, up 218.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 2.2%, against 130.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1991
spending costs in 2024, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1991 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.56%
$230
Medical care
3.57%
$319
Energy
3.09%
$273
Housing
2.82%
$250
Food
2.72%
$242
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.48%
$224
Transportation
2.40%
$219
Apparel
0.06%
$102
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1991: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1991 to 2024
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 4.93% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1991–2024 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$190
2020–2024
4.93%
21.2%
$230
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1991
$100 from 1991 had already become $152 by
2007, on its way to $230 in 2024; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 8.0% in 2022, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2024
In 2024, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1991 had the buying
power of $230; the year's average CPI of 313.689 is the level
behind every 2024 figure on this page.
2024 brought inflation close to normal without fully reaching it. Consumer
prices rose 2.9% on average, the smallest yearly increase since 2020, and the
December-to-December rate was also 2.9%. Gasoline averaged $3.30 a gallon,
below 2023’s $3.52. Shelter stayed the biggest driver of the index, so the
pace of price growth in categories that households can’t easily avoid, such as
rent and insurance, lagged the drop in goods and energy costs.
The Federal Reserve declared progress in September, cutting its policy rate
by half a point, the first reduction since the pandemic emergency, and then
by a quarter point in November and again in December. Mortgage rates near 7%
kept the housing market frozen for many would-be buyers.
Median household income was $83,730, the federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 73 cents in July. After the November election,
attention turned to how announced tariffs and tax policy might affect prices
in 2025.
MLA: “Inflation from 1991 to 2024: $100 is worth $230 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2024/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1991 to 2024. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2024/