$100 in 1993 is worth $103 in 1994,
because prices increased 2.6% over that period, an average of
2.56% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$103
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2.6%
Average inflation rate
2.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$103
Price difference ($100 base)
$2.56
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1993 → 1994
$103
$100 in 1994 → 1993
$97.50
What happened to prices between 1993 and 1994
Between 1993 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2.6%, which works out to an average of
2.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.98 buys in 1994: the 1993 dollar
lost 2.5% of its purchasing power over
these 1 years.
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.
Every 1993 amount converts to 1994 at the same ratio, 1.03: $1,000 becomes
$1,026, and $10,000 becomes $10,256.
Amount in 1993
Value in 1994
$1.00
$1.03
$5.00
$5.13
$10.00
$10.26
$20.00
$20.51
$50.00
$51.28
$100
$103
$500
$513
$1,000
$1,026
$5,000
$5,128
$10,000
$10,256
$100,000
$102,561
$1,000,000
$1,025,606
Inflation by spending category, 1993–1994
Between 1993 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 4.8%, while apparel fell 0.2%, against 2.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.56%
$103
Medical care
4.77%
$105
Education & communication
3.86%
$104
Transportation
2.99%
$103
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.83%
$103
Housing
2.55%
$103
Food
2.41%
$102
Recreation
2.21%
$102
Energy
0.38%
$100
Apparel
-0.22%
$99.78
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993grew to $103 by 1994; each row
shows the CPI, that year's inflation rate, and the running value.
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $103; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 1994: $100 is worth $103 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-1994/