$100 in 1993 is worth $140 in 2006,
because prices increased 39.5% over that period, an average of
2.59% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$140
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
39.5%
Average inflation rate
2.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$140
Price difference ($100 base)
$39.52
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1993 → 2006
$140
$100 in 2006 → 1993
$71.68
What happened to prices between 1993 and 2006
Between 1993 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 39.5%, which works out to an average of
2.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.72 buys in 2006: the 1993 dollar
lost 28.3% of its purchasing power over
these 13 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 2006 at the same ratio, 1.40: $1,000 becomes
$1,395, and $10,000 becomes $13,952.
Amount in 1993
Value in 2006
$1.00
$1.40
$5.00
$6.98
$10.00
$13.95
$20.00
$27.90
$50.00
$69.76
$100
$140
$500
$698
$1,000
$1,395
$5,000
$6,976
$10,000
$13,952
$100,000
$139,516
$1,000,000
$1,395,156
Inflation by spending category, 1993–2006
Between 1993 and 2006, energy rose the most, up 89.0%, while apparel fell 10.6%, against 39.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.59%
$140
Energy
5.02%
$189
Medical care
4.02%
$167
Housing
2.84%
$144
Transportation
2.55%
$139
Food
2.54%
$139
Education & communication
2.43%
$137
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.35%
$135
Recreation
1.56%
$122
Apparel
-0.86%
$89.38
Decade by decade: 1993 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.66% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.54% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1993–2006 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1993, at end
1993–2000
2.54%
19.2%
$119
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$140
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $115 by
1999, on its way to $140 in 2006; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2005, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $140; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 2006: $100 is worth $140 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2006/