$100 in 1993 is worth $115 in 1999,
because prices increased 15.3% over that period, an average of
2.40% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$115
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
15.3%
Average inflation rate
2.40% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$115
Price difference ($100 base)
$15.29
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1993 → 1999
$115
$100 in 1999 → 1993
$86.73
What happened to prices between 1993 and 1999
Between 1993 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 15.3%, which works out to an average of
2.40% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.87 buys in 1999: the 1993 dollar
lost 13.3% of its purchasing power over
these 6 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 1999 at the same ratio, 1.15: $1,000 becomes
$1,153, and $10,000 becomes $11,529.
Amount in 1993
Value in 1999
$1.00
$1.15
$5.00
$5.76
$10.00
$11.53
$20.00
$23.06
$50.00
$57.65
$100
$115
$500
$576
$1,000
$1,153
$5,000
$5,765
$10,000
$11,529
$100,000
$115,294
$1,000,000
$1,152,941
Inflation by spending category, 1993–1999
Between 1993 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 24.4%, while apparel fell 1.8%, against 15.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.40%
$115
Medical care
3.71%
$124
Education & communication
2.85%
$118
Food
2.57%
$116
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.55%
$116
Housing
2.52%
$116
Recreation
1.98%
$112
Transportation
1.71%
$111
Energy
0.38%
$102
Apparel
-0.30%
$98.20
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $109 by
1996, on its way to $115 in 1999; 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 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $115; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 1999: $100 is worth $115 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-1999/