$100 in 1992 is worth $160 in 2011,
because prices increased 60.3% over that period, an average of
2.52% a year.
$100 in 1992 has
the same buying power as
$160
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
60.3%
Average inflation rate
2.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$160
Price difference ($100 base)
$60.33
CPI in 1992
140.3
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1992 → 2011
$160
$100 in 2011 → 1992
$62.37
What happened to prices between 1992 and 2011
Between 1992 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 140.3 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 60.3%, which works out to an average of
2.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1992 bought what
$0.62 buys in 2011: the 1992 dollar
lost 37.6% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 2011 at the same ratio, 1.60: $1,000 becomes
$1,603, and $10,000 becomes $16,033.
Amount in 1992
Value in 2011
$1.00
$1.60
$5.00
$8.02
$10.00
$16.03
$20.00
$32.07
$50.00
$80.16
$100
$160
$500
$802
$1,000
$1,603
$5,000
$8,016
$10,000
$16,033
$100,000
$160,327
$1,000,000
$1,603,272
Inflation by spending category, 1992–2011
Between 1992 and 2011, energy rose the most, up 136.8%, while apparel fell 7.4%, against 60.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1992
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1992 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.52%
$160
Energy
4.64%
$237
Medical care
4.00%
$211
Transportation
2.76%
$168
Food
2.68%
$165
Housing
2.48%
$159
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.25%
$153
Apparel
-0.41%
$92.58
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1992: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1992 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 3.16% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1992–2011 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1992, at end
1992–2000
2.59%
22.7%
$123
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$155
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$160
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1992
$100 from 1992 had already become $126 by
2001, on its way to $160 in 2011; 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 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1992 had the buying
power of $160; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1992 to 2011: $100 is worth $160 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1992-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1992 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1992-to-2011/