$100 in 1993 is worth $174 in 2018,
because prices increased 73.8% over that period, an average of
2.24% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$174
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
73.8%
Average inflation rate
2.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$174
Price difference ($100 base)
$73.78
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1993 → 2018
$174
$100 in 2018 → 1993
$57.55
What happened to prices between 1993 and 2018
Between 1993 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 73.8%, which works out to an average of
2.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.58 buys in 2018: the 1993 dollar
lost 42.5% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 2018 at the same ratio, 1.74: $1,000 becomes
$1,738, and $10,000 becomes $17,378.
Amount in 1993
Value in 2018
$1.00
$1.74
$5.00
$8.69
$10.00
$17.38
$20.00
$34.76
$50.00
$86.89
$100
$174
$500
$869
$1,000
$1,738
$5,000
$8,689
$10,000
$17,378
$100,000
$173,776
$1,000,000
$1,737,765
Inflation by spending category, 1993–2018
Between 1993 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 140.7%, while apparel fell 6.0%, against 73.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.24%
$174
Medical care
3.58%
$241
Energy
3.03%
$211
Housing
2.45%
$183
Food
2.38%
$180
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.13%
$169
Transportation
1.94%
$162
Education & communication
1.90%
$160
Recreation
1.10%
$131
Apparel
-0.25%
$93.98
Decade by decade: 1993 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.54% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1993–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$174
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $135 by
2005, on its way to $174 in 2018; 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 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $174; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 2018: $100 is worth $174 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2018/