$100 in 1992 is worth $164 in 2012,
because prices increased 63.6% over that period, an average of
2.49% a year.
$100 in 1992 has
the same buying power as
$164
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
63.6%
Average inflation rate
2.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$164
Price difference ($100 base)
$63.65
CPI in 1992
140.3
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1992 → 2012
$164
$100 in 2012 → 1992
$61.11
What happened to prices between 1992 and 2012
Between 1992 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 140.3 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 63.6%, which works out to an average of
2.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1992 bought what
$0.61 buys in 2012: the 1992 dollar
lost 38.9% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 2012 at the same ratio, 1.64: $1,000 becomes
$1,636, and $10,000 becomes $16,365.
Amount in 1992
Value in 2012
$1.00
$1.64
$5.00
$8.18
$10.00
$16.36
$20.00
$32.73
$50.00
$81.82
$100
$164
$500
$818
$1,000
$1,636
$5,000
$8,182
$10,000
$16,365
$100,000
$163,645
$1,000,000
$1,636,450
Inflation by spending category, 1992–2012
Between 1992 and 2012, energy rose the most, up 138.9%, while apparel fell 4.3%, against 63.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1992
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1992 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.49%
$164
Energy
4.45%
$239
Medical care
3.98%
$218
Transportation
2.74%
$172
Food
2.67%
$170
Housing
2.44%
$162
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.25%
$156
Apparel
-0.22%
$95.73
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1992: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1992 to 2012
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 2.61% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1992–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$164
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1992
$100 from 1992 had already become $128 by
2002, on its way to $164 in 2012; 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 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1992 had the buying
power of $164; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1992 to 2012: $100 is worth $164 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1992-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1992 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1992-to-2012/