$100 in 1993 is worth $124 in 2002,
because prices increased 24.5% over that period, an average of
2.46% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$124
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
24.5%
Average inflation rate
2.46% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$124
Price difference ($100 base)
$24.50
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1993 → 2002
$124
$100 in 2002 → 1993
$80.32
What happened to prices between 1993 and 2002
Between 1993 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 24.5%, which works out to an average of
2.46% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.80 buys in 2002: the 1993 dollar
lost 19.7% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 2002 at the same ratio, 1.24: $1,000 becomes
$1,245, and $10,000 becomes $12,450.
Amount in 1993
Value in 2002
$1.00
$1.24
$5.00
$6.22
$10.00
$12.45
$20.00
$24.90
$50.00
$62.25
$100
$124
$500
$622
$1,000
$1,245
$5,000
$6,225
$10,000
$12,450
$100,000
$124,498
$1,000,000
$1,244,983
Inflation by spending category, 1993–2002
Between 1993 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 41.8%, while apparel fell 7.3%, against 24.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.46%
$124
Medical care
3.96%
$142
Housing
2.75%
$128
Education & communication
2.62%
$126
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.53%
$125
Food
2.52%
$125
Transportation
1.78%
$117
Recreation
1.77%
$117
Energy
1.74%
$117
Apparel
-0.83%
$92.74
Decade by decade: 1993 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.54% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1993–2002 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1993, at end
1993–2000
2.54%
19.2%
$119
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$124
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $111 by
1997, on its way to $124 in 2002; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2000, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $124; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 2002: $100 is worth $124 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2002/