$100 in 1993 is worth $211 in 2023,
because prices increased 110.9% over that period, an average of
2.52% a year.
$100 in 1993 has
the same buying power as
$211
in 2023
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
110.9%
Average inflation rate
2.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$211
Price difference ($100 base)
$111
CPI in 1993
144.5
CPI in 2023
304.702
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
Inflation in 2023
4.12%
$100 in 1993 → 2023
$211
$100 in 2023 → 1993
$47.42
What happened to prices between 1993 and 2023
Between 1993 and 2023, the Consumer Price Index went from 144.5 to 304.702.
Cumulatively, prices increased 110.9%, which works out to an average of
2.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1993 bought what
$0.47 buys in 2023: the 1993 dollar
lost 52.6% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 2023 at the same ratio, 2.11: $1,000 becomes
$2,109, and $10,000 becomes $21,087.
Amount in 1993
Value in 2023
$1.00
$2.11
$5.00
$10.54
$10.00
$21.09
$20.00
$42.17
$50.00
$105
$100
$211
$500
$1,054
$1,000
$2,109
$5,000
$10,543
$10,000
$21,087
$100,000
$210,866
$1,000,000
$2,108,664
Inflation by spending category, 1993–2023
Between 1993 and 2023, medical care rose the most, up 172.6%, while apparel fell 2.3%, against 110.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1993
spending costs in 2023, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1993 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.52%
$211
Medical care
3.40%
$273
Energy
3.39%
$272
Food
2.80%
$229
Housing
2.77%
$227
Transportation
2.42%
$205
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.38%
$203
Education & communication
1.78%
$170
Recreation
1.36%
$150
Apparel
-0.08%
$97.67
Decade by decade: 1993 to 2023
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 5.59% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1993–2023 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$179
2020–2023
5.59%
17.7%
$211
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1993
$100 from 1993 had already become $149 by
2008, on its way to $211 in 2023; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 8.0% in 2022, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2023, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1993 had the buying
power of $211; the year's average CPI of 304.702 is the level
behind every 2023 figure on this page.
2023 was the year inflation came down without a recession. Consumer prices
rose 4.1% on average, roughly half of 2022’s 8.0%, and the December-to-December
rate fell to 3.4%. Gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon, well below the 2022
average, and supply-chain pressure on goods eased. Shelter, restaurant meals,
and other services stayed expensive, so the CPI kept rising at a rate well
above the pre-pandemic pace.
The Federal Reserve completed its rate-hiking campaign in July, taking the
policy rate to 5.25–5.50%, the highest level in 22 years. The effects showed
up in banking: Silicon Valley Bank failed in March after rate increases eroded
the value of its bond portfolio, the second-largest bank failure in U.S.
history at the time. Despite that, unemployment stayed under 4% all year.
Median household income was $80,610 according to the Census Bureau. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp rose to 66 cents
in July.
MLA: “Inflation from 1993 to 2023: $100 is worth $211 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2023/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1993 to 2023. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1993-to-2023/