$100 in 1993 is worth $177 in 2019,
because prices increased 76.9% over that period, an average of
2.22% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$177
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
76.9%
Average inflation rate
2.22% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$177
Price difference ($100 base)
$76.93
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1993 → 2019
$177
$100 in 2019 → 1993
$56.52
What happened to prices between 1993 and 2019
Between 1993 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 76.9%, which works out to an average of
2.22% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.57 buys in 2019: the 1993 dollar
lost 43.5% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 2019 at the same ratio, 1.77: $1,000 becomes
$1,769, and $10,000 becomes $17,693.
Amount in 1993
Value in 2019
$1.00
$1.77
$5.00
$8.85
$10.00
$17.69
$20.00
$35.39
$50.00
$88.46
$100
$177
$500
$885
$1,000
$1,769
$5,000
$8,846
$10,000
$17,693
$100,000
$176,925
$1,000,000
$1,769,253
Inflation by spending category, 1993–2019
Between 1993 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 147.5%, while apparel fell 7.2%, against 76.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.22%
$177
Medical care
3.55%
$247
Energy
2.83%
$207
Housing
2.47%
$188
Food
2.36%
$183
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.13%
$173
Education & communication
1.85%
$161
Transportation
1.85%
$161
Recreation
1.10%
$133
Apparel
-0.29%
$92.78
Decade by decade: 1993 to 2019
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 1993–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$177
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $140 by
2006, on its way to $177 in 2019; 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 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $177; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 2019: $100 is worth $177 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2019/