$100 in 1993 is worth $159 in 2012,
because prices increased 58.9% over that period, an average of
2.47% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$159
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
58.9%
Average inflation rate
2.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$159
Price difference ($100 base)
$58.89
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1993 → 2012
$159
$100 in 2012 → 1993
$62.94
What happened to prices between 1993 and 2012
Between 1993 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 58.9%, which works out to an average of
2.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.63 buys in 2012: the 1993 dollar
lost 37.1% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 2012 at the same ratio, 1.59: $1,000 becomes
$1,589, and $10,000 becomes $15,889.
Amount in 1993
Value in 2012
$1.00
$1.59
$5.00
$7.94
$10.00
$15.89
$20.00
$31.78
$50.00
$79.44
$100
$159
$500
$794
$1,000
$1,589
$5,000
$7,944
$10,000
$15,889
$100,000
$158,889
$1,000,000
$1,588,886
Inflation by spending category, 1993–2012
Between 1993 and 2012, energy rose the most, up 136.2%, while apparel fell 5.6%, against 58.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.47%
$159
Energy
4.63%
$236
Medical care
3.88%
$206
Transportation
2.73%
$167
Food
2.70%
$166
Housing
2.43%
$158
Education & communication
2.39%
$157
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.19%
$151
Recreation
1.24%
$126
Apparel
-0.30%
$94.44
Decade by decade: 1993 to 2012
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 2.61% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1993–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$159
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $124 by
2002, on its way to $159 in 2012; 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 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $159; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 2012: $100 is worth $159 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2012/