$100 in 1992 is worth $153 in 2009,
because prices increased 52.9% over that period, an average of
2.53% a year.
$100 in 1992 has
the same buying power as
$153
in 2009
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
52.9%
Average inflation rate
2.53% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$153
Price difference ($100 base)
$52.91
CPI in 1992
140.3
CPI in 2009
214.537
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
Inflation in 2009
-0.36%
$100 in 1992 → 2009
$153
$100 in 2009 → 1992
$65.40
What happened to prices between 1992 and 2009
Between 1992 and 2009, the Consumer Price Index went from 140.3 to 214.537.
Cumulatively, prices increased 52.9%, which works out to an average of
2.53% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1992 bought what
$0.65 buys in 2009: the 1992 dollar
lost 34.6% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2009 at the same ratio, 1.53: $1,000 becomes
$1,529, and $10,000 becomes $15,291.
Amount in 1992
Value in 2009
$1.00
$1.53
$5.00
$7.65
$10.00
$15.29
$20.00
$30.58
$50.00
$76.46
$100
$153
$500
$765
$1,000
$1,529
$5,000
$7,646
$10,000
$15,291
$100,000
$152,913
$1,000,000
$1,529,130
Inflation by spending category, 1992–2009
Between 1992 and 2009, medical care rose the most, up 97.6%, while apparel fell 9.0%, against 52.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1992
spending costs in 2009, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1992 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.53%
$153
Medical care
4.09%
$198
Energy
3.77%
$188
Food
2.73%
$158
Housing
2.72%
$158
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.37%
$149
Transportation
2.07%
$142
Apparel
-0.55%
$91.04
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1992: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1992 to 2009
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.59% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.47% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1992–2009 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1992, at end
1992–2000
2.59%
22.7%
$123
2000–2009
2.47%
24.6%
$153
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1992
$100 from 1992 had already become $123 by
2000, on its way to $153 in 2009; 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 2009, prices fell 0.4% and $100 from 1992 had the buying
power of $153; the year's average CPI of 214.537 is the level
behind every 2009 figure on this page.
2009 is the rarest kind of year in the modern price data: one where the cost
of living went down. The CPI fell 0.4%, the first full-year deflation
since 1955, as the Great Recession hollowed out demand and oil unwound from
its $147 spike the summer before. Gasoline that had cost over $4 a gallon in
July 2008 averaged $2.35 in 2009, and that energy collapse dragged the
12-month inflation rate to −2.1% by July, the deepest reading since 1950.
Policymakers treated falling prices not as relief but as a warning: deflation
raises the real weight of debt precisely when households are drowning in it,
which is why the Federal Reserve pinned interest rates near zero, began buying
bonds by the hundreds of billions, and Washington passed a $787 billion
stimulus. The medicine took: prices stabilized within a year, and 2009 remains
the textbook case of why central banks fear deflation more than moderate
inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1992 to 2009: $100 is worth $153 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1992-to-2009/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1992 to 2009. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1992-to-2009/