$100 in 1994 is worth $110 in 1998,
because prices increased 10.0% over that period, an average of
2.41% a year.
$100 in 1994 has
the same buying power as
$110
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
10.0%
Average inflation rate
2.41% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$110
Price difference ($100 base)
$9.99
CPI in 1994
148.2
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1994 → 1998
$110
$100 in 1998 → 1994
$90.92
What happened to prices between 1994 and 1998
Between 1994 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 148.2 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 10.0%, which works out to an average of
2.41% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1994 bought what
$0.91 buys in 1998: the 1994 dollar
lost 9.1% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
Every 1994 amount converts to 1998 at the same ratio, 1.10: $1,000 becomes
$1,100, and $10,000 becomes $10,999.
Amount in 1994
Value in 1998
$1.00
$1.10
$5.00
$5.50
$10.00
$11.00
$20.00
$22.00
$50.00
$54.99
$100
$110
$500
$550
$1,000
$1,100
$5,000
$5,499
$10,000
$10,999
$100,000
$109,987
$1,000,000
$1,099,865
Inflation by spending category, 1994–1998
Between 1994 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 14.7%, while energy fell 1.6%, against 10.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1994
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1994 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.41%
$110
Medical care
3.50%
$115
Education & communication
3.09%
$113
Food
2.73%
$111
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.60%
$111
Housing
2.59%
$111
Recreation
2.19%
$109
Transportation
1.33%
$105
Apparel
-0.08%
$99.70
Energy
-0.41%
$98.37
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1994
$100 from 1994 had already become $106 by
1996, on its way to $110 in 1998; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.0% in 1996, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1994 had the buying
power of $110; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1994 to 1998: $100 is worth $110 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1994 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-1998/