$100 in 1993 is worth $109 in 1996,
because prices increased 8.6% over that period, an average of
2.78% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$109
in 1996
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
8.6%
Average inflation rate
2.78% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$109
Price difference ($100 base)
$8.58
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 1996
156.9
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
$100 in 1993 → 1996
$109
$100 in 1996 → 1993
$92.10
What happened to prices between 1993 and 1996
Between 1993 and 1996, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 156.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 8.6%, which works out to an average of
2.78% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.92 buys in 1996: the 1993 dollar
lost 7.9% of its purchasing power over
these 3 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 1996 at the same ratio, 1.09: $1,000 becomes
$1,086, and $10,000 becomes $10,858.
Amount in 1993
Value in 1996
$1.00
$1.09
$5.00
$5.43
$10.00
$10.86
$20.00
$21.72
$50.00
$54.29
$100
$109
$500
$543
$1,000
$1,086
$5,000
$5,429
$10,000
$10,858
$100,000
$108,581
$1,000,000
$1,085,813
Inflation by spending category, 1993–1996
Between 1993 and 1996, medical care rose the most, up 13.3%, while apparel fell 1.5%, against 8.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 1996, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.78%
$109
Medical care
4.25%
$113
Education & communication
3.68%
$111
Transportation
3.12%
$110
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.85%
$109
Food
2.85%
$109
Housing
2.67%
$108
Recreation
2.40%
$107
Energy
1.85%
$106
Apparel
-0.50%
$98.50
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $103 by
1994, on its way to $109 in 1996; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.0% in 1996, and the smallest rise was 2.6% in 1994.
In 1996, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $109; the year's average CPI of 156.9 is the level
behind every 1996 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 1996: $100 is worth $109 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-1996/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 1996. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-1996/