$100 in 1993 is worth $164 in 2015,
because prices increased 64.0% over that period, an average of
2.27% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$164
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
64.0%
Average inflation rate
2.27% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$164
Price difference ($100 base)
$64.03
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1993 → 2015
$164
$100 in 2015 → 1993
$60.97
What happened to prices between 1993 and 2015
Between 1993 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 64.0%, which works out to an average of
2.27% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.61 buys in 2015: the 1993 dollar
lost 39.0% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 2015 at the same ratio, 1.64: $1,000 becomes
$1,640, and $10,000 becomes $16,403.
Amount in 1993
Value in 2015
$1.00
$1.64
$5.00
$8.20
$10.00
$16.40
$20.00
$32.81
$50.00
$82.01
$100
$164
$500
$820
$1,000
$1,640
$5,000
$8,201
$10,000
$16,403
$100,000
$164,026
$1,000,000
$1,640,256
Inflation by spending category, 1993–2015
Between 1993 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 121.8%, while apparel fell 5.8%, against 64.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.27%
$164
Medical care
3.69%
$222
Energy
3.08%
$195
Food
2.59%
$175
Housing
2.40%
$169
Education & communication
2.21%
$162
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.14%
$159
Transportation
1.94%
$153
Recreation
1.12%
$128
Apparel
-0.27%
$94.17
Decade by decade: 1993 to 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.54% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1993–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$164
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $131 by
2004, on its way to $164 in 2015; 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 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $164; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 2015: $100 is worth $164 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2015/