$100 in 1992 is worth $119 in 1999,
because prices increased 18.7% over that period, an average of
2.48% a year.
$100 in 1992 has
the same buying power as
$119
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
18.7%
Average inflation rate
2.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$119
Price difference ($100 base)
$18.75
CPI in 1992
140.3
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1992 → 1999
$119
$100 in 1999 → 1992
$84.21
What happened to prices between 1992 and 1999
Between 1992 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 140.3 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 18.7%, which works out to an average of
2.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1992 bought what
$0.84 buys in 1999: the 1992 dollar
lost 15.8% of its purchasing power over
these 7 years.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
Every 1992 amount converts to 1999 at the same ratio, 1.19: $1,000 becomes
$1,187, and $10,000 becomes $11,875.
Amount in 1992
Value in 1999
$1.00
$1.19
$5.00
$5.94
$10.00
$11.87
$20.00
$23.75
$50.00
$59.37
$100
$119
$500
$594
$1,000
$1,187
$5,000
$5,937
$10,000
$11,875
$100,000
$118,746
$1,000,000
$1,187,455
Inflation by spending category, 1992–1999
Between 1992 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 31.8%, while apparel fell 0.5%, against 18.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1992
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1992 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.48%
$119
Medical care
4.03%
$132
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.66%
$120
Housing
2.54%
$119
Food
2.52%
$119
Transportation
1.91%
$114
Energy
0.49%
$103
Apparel
-0.07%
$99.55
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1992: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1992
$100 from 1992 had already become $109 by
1995, on its way to $119 in 1999; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.0% in 1993, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1992 had the buying
power of $119; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1992 to 1999: $100 is worth $119 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1992-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1992 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1992-to-1999/