$100 in 1993 is worth $113 in 1998,
because prices increased 12.8% over that period, an average of
2.44% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$113
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
12.8%
Average inflation rate
2.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$113
Price difference ($100 base)
$12.80
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1993 → 1998
$113
$100 in 1998 → 1993
$88.65
What happened to prices between 1993 and 1998
Between 1993 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 12.8%, which works out to an average of
2.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.89 buys in 1998: the 1993 dollar
lost 11.3% of its purchasing power over
these 5 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 1998 at the same ratio, 1.13: $1,000 becomes
$1,128, and $10,000 becomes $11,280.
Amount in 1993
Value in 1998
$1.00
$1.13
$5.00
$5.64
$10.00
$11.28
$20.00
$22.56
$50.00
$56.40
$100
$113
$500
$564
$1,000
$1,128
$5,000
$5,640
$10,000
$11,280
$100,000
$112,803
$1,000,000
$1,128,028
Inflation by spending category, 1993–1998
Between 1993 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 20.2%, while energy fell 1.2%, against 12.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.44%
$113
Medical care
3.75%
$120
Education & communication
3.24%
$117
Food
2.66%
$114
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.64%
$114
Housing
2.58%
$114
Recreation
2.19%
$111
Transportation
1.66%
$109
Apparel
-0.10%
$99.48
Energy
-0.25%
$98.75
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $105 by
1995, on its way to $113 in 1998; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $113; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 1998: $100 is worth $113 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-1998/