$100 in 1992 is worth $175 in 2017,
because prices increased 74.7% over that period, an average of
2.26% a year.
$100 in 1992 has
the same buying power as
$175
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
74.7%
Average inflation rate
2.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$175
Price difference ($100 base)
$74.71
CPI in 1992
140.3
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1992 → 2017
$175
$100 in 2017 → 1992
$57.24
What happened to prices between 1992 and 2017
Between 1992 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 140.3 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 74.7%, which works out to an average of
2.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1992 bought what
$0.57 buys in 2017: the 1992 dollar
lost 42.8% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 2017 at the same ratio, 1.75: $1,000 becomes
$1,747, and $10,000 becomes $17,471.
Amount in 1992
Value in 2017
$1.00
$1.75
$5.00
$8.74
$10.00
$17.47
$20.00
$34.94
$50.00
$87.36
$100
$175
$500
$874
$1,000
$1,747
$5,000
$8,736
$10,000
$17,471
$100,000
$174,711
$1,000,000
$1,747,113
Inflation by spending category, 1992–2017
Between 1992 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 150.0%, while apparel fell 4.8%, against 74.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1992
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1992 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.26%
$175
Medical care
3.73%
$250
Energy
2.78%
$199
Housing
2.44%
$183
Food
2.41%
$181
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.17%
$171
Transportation
1.88%
$159
Apparel
-0.20%
$95.23
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1992: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1992 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.59% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1992–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$175
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1992
$100 from 1992 had already become $135 by
2004, on its way to $175 in 2017; 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 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1992 had the buying
power of $175; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1992 to 2017: $100 is worth $175 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1992-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1992 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1992-to-2017/