$100 in 1993 is worth $151 in 2010,
because prices increased 50.9% over that period, an average of
2.45% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$151
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
50.9%
Average inflation rate
2.45% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$151
Price difference ($100 base)
$50.90
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1993 → 2010
$151
$100 in 2010 → 1993
$66.27
What happened to prices between 1993 and 2010
Between 1993 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 50.9%, which works out to an average of
2.45% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.66 buys in 2010: the 1993 dollar
lost 33.7% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2010 at the same ratio, 1.51: $1,000 becomes
$1,509, and $10,000 becomes $15,090.
Amount in 1993
Value in 2010
$1.00
$1.51
$5.00
$7.55
$10.00
$15.09
$20.00
$30.18
$50.00
$75.45
$100
$151
$500
$755
$1,000
$1,509
$5,000
$7,545
$10,000
$15,090
$100,000
$150,904
$1,000,000
$1,509,038
Inflation by spending category, 1993–2010
Between 1993 and 2010, energy rose the most, up 102.9%, while apparel fell 10.6%, against 50.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.45%
$151
Energy
4.25%
$203
Medical care
3.94%
$193
Food
2.65%
$156
Housing
2.54%
$153
Education & communication
2.49%
$152
Transportation
2.35%
$148
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.23%
$145
Recreation
1.32%
$125
Apparel
-0.66%
$89.38
Decade by decade: 1993 to 2010
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.54% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1993–2010 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1993, at end
1993–2000
2.54%
19.2%
$119
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$151
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $123 by
2001, on its way to $151 in 2010; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.8% in 2008, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $151; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 2010: $100 is worth $151 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2010/