Value of a Dollar in 1990
A 1990 dollar starts in the Great Moderation, a long stretch of low, steady inflation that lasted until the 2008 financial crisis.
More optionsYear average → today (August 2026)
A month compares month to month, as BLS’s own calculator does.
Worth in
$1 in 1990 is worth
$2.56in August 2026
Prices rose 156.3% in between, so $1 of 1990 goods costs $2.56 in August 2026.
The price of $1 of 1990 goods, year by year
- Total inflation
- +156.3%
- Average a year
- 2.64%
- $1 of cash now buys
- $0.39 of 1990 goods
Official CPI-U data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through August 2026. These are averages for urban consumers, not advice. Terms
How this works: Method, 6 sources, Checked against 2 worked examples,
How this works
Method
A dollar from 1990 is worth what its goods cost now: the amount × the CPI now ÷ the CPI in 1990. For 1990 the calculator uses BLS’s annual average, the mean of the twelve monthly indexes; pick a month above for a month-to-month figure, which is how BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator works. Full method
Sources
How it’s tested
2 worked examples for this page are checked by automated tests before every release: given the inputs, the tool must show the expected answer.
Limits
Official CPI-U data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through August 2026. These are averages for urban consumers, not advice.
Changes
- First version: what a dollar is worth from 1913 to August 2026, your own inflation rate, whether a raise beat inflation, the current rate, the rate by year and 12 year pages.
$1 from 1990, worked out
The CPI-U averaged 130.7 in 1990 and 334.980 in August 2026. Divide the two: 334.980 ÷ 130.7 = 2.563, so $1 of 1990 goods costs $2.56 now. The same factor scales any amount: $10,000 in 1990 is $25,630 today, a total rise of 156% or 2.64% a year over 36 years.
The 1990s and the Great Moderation
The decade opened with a brief rise: the 12-month rate reached 6.3% in October 1990, and the annual average rose 5.4% in 1990, the most since 1982. It did not last.
From the mid-1980s to 2007 the economy had what the Fed’s historians call the Great Moderation: inflation was low and relatively stable, and the period held the longest economic expansion since World War II. Their verdict on why: better monetary policy was key, helped by changes such as the shift from manufacturing to services.
From 1991 to 2000 the CPI rose between 1.6% and 4.2% a year. Over the whole decade prices rose 32%, against 112% in the 1970s.
- From the mid-1980s to 2007, inflation was low and relatively stable, a period known as the Great Moderation. Source: Federal Reserve History, The Great Moderation.
- The CPI rose 32% from 1990 to 2000. Source: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0).
How the value of a dollar is worked out
A dollar from 1990 is worth what its goods cost now: the amount × the CPI now ÷ the CPI in 1990. For 1990 the calculator uses BLS’s annual average, the mean of the twelve monthly indexes; pick a month above for a month-to-month figure, which is how BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator works.
The index is the CPI-U, all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted: the series BLS publishes back to 1913. It measures the prices urban consumers pay, so it says what a dollar buys, not what an investment earned.
value now = amount × CPI(August 2026) ÷ CPI(1990)
$1 from 1990 in later years
What $1 of 1990 goods cost in each later year (annual averages), with that year’s inflation; the last row is the latest month.
| Year | CPI-U | $1 from 1990 | Inflation that year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 130.7 | $1 | +5.4% |
| 1992 | 140.3 | $1.07 | +3.0% |
| 1994 | 148.2 | $1.13 | +2.6% |
| 1996 | 156.8 | $1.20 | +2.9% |
| 1998 | 163.0 | $1.25 | +1.6% |
| 2000 | 172.2 | $1.32 | +3.4% |
| 2002 | 179.9 | $1.38 | +1.6% |
| 2004 | 188.9 | $1.45 | +2.7% |
| 2006 | 201.6 | $1.54 | +3.2% |
| 2008 | 215.303 | $1.65 | +3.8% |
Show all 20 rowsShow fewer
| 2010 | 218.056 | $1.67 | +1.6% |
| 2012 | 229.594 | $1.76 | +2.1% |
| 2014 | 236.736 | $1.81 | +1.6% |
| 2016 | 240.007 | $1.84 | +1.3% |
| 2018 | 251.107 | $1.92 | +2.4% |
| 2020 | 258.811 | $1.98 | +1.2% |
| 2022 | 292.655 | $2.24 | +8.0% |
| 2024 | 313.689 | $2.40 | +2.9% |
| 2025 | 321.943 | $2.46 | +2.6% |
| August 2026 | 334.980 | $2.56 | +3.4% (12 months) |
Data: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0) · BLS, CPI-U all items, seasonally adjusted (CUSR0000SA0) · BLS, Consumer Price Index data · BLS, Relative importance of CPI components, December 2025 · BLS, Average hourly earnings, total private (CES0500000003). Inflation calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was inflation low in the 1990s?
The Federal Reserve had brought inflation down in the early 1980s and kept it there, and the economy itself became steadier. Economists call it the Great Moderation, and the Fed’s historians count better monetary policy as the key cause.
What was $1 from 1990 worth in 2000?
About $1.32.
What is a $50,000 salary from 1990 worth today?
About $128,148 a year in August 2026 prices. To check your own pay against inflation, use the raise calculator.