$100 in 1985 is worth $134 in 1993,
because prices increased 34.3% over that period, an average of
3.75% a year.
$100 in 1985 has
the same buying power as
$134
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
34.3%
Average inflation rate
3.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$134
Price difference ($100 base)
$34.29
CPI in 1985
107.6
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1985 → 1993
$134
$100 in 1993 → 1985
$74.46
What happened to prices between 1985 and 1993
Between 1985 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 107.6 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 34.3%, which works out to an average of
3.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1985 bought what
$0.74 buys in 1993: the 1985 dollar
lost 25.5% of its purchasing power over
these 8 years.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
Every 1985 amount converts to 1993 at the same ratio, 1.34: $1,000 becomes
$1,343, and $10,000 becomes $13,429.
Amount in 1985
Value in 1993
$1.00
$1.34
$5.00
$6.71
$10.00
$13.43
$20.00
$26.86
$50.00
$67.15
$100
$134
$500
$671
$1,000
$1,343
$5,000
$6,715
$10,000
$13,429
$100,000
$134,294
$1,000,000
$1,342,937
Inflation by spending category, 1985–1993
Between 1985 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 77.4%, while energy rose the least, up 2.6%, against 34.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1985
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1985 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.75%
$134
Medical care
7.43%
$177
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.25%
$140
Food
3.67%
$133
Housing
3.44%
$131
Apparel
3.07%
$127
Transportation
2.58%
$123
Energy
0.32%
$103
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1985: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1985 to 1993
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.97% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.40% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1985–1993 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1985, at end
1985–1990
3.97%
21.5%
$121
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$134
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1985
$100 from 1985 had already become $115 by
1989, on its way to $134 in 1993; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 5.4% in 1990, and the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1985 had the buying
power of $134; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1985 to 1993: $100 is worth $134 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1985 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-1993/