$100 in 1994 is worth $112 in 1999,
because prices increased 12.4% over that period, an average of
2.37% a year.
$100 in 1994 has
the same buying power as
$112
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
12.4%
Average inflation rate
2.37% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$112
Price difference ($100 base)
$12.42
CPI in 1994
148.2
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1994 → 1999
$112
$100 in 1999 → 1994
$88.96
What happened to prices between 1994 and 1999
Between 1994 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 148.2 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 12.4%, which works out to an average of
2.37% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1994 bought what
$0.89 buys in 1999: the 1994 dollar
lost 11.0% of its purchasing power over
these 5 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 1999 at the same ratio, 1.12: $1,000 becomes
$1,124, and $10,000 becomes $11,242.
Amount in 1994
Value in 1999
$1.00
$1.12
$5.00
$5.62
$10.00
$11.24
$20.00
$22.48
$50.00
$56.21
$100
$112
$500
$562
$1,000
$1,124
$5,000
$5,621
$10,000
$11,242
$100,000
$112,416
$1,000,000
$1,124,157
Inflation by spending category, 1994–1999
Between 1994 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 18.8%, while apparel fell 1.6%, against 12.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1994
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1994 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.37%
$112
Medical care
3.50%
$119
Education & communication
2.65%
$114
Food
2.60%
$114
Housing
2.51%
$113
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.49%
$113
Recreation
1.93%
$110
Transportation
1.46%
$108
Energy
0.38%
$102
Apparel
-0.32%
$98.43
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1994
$100 from 1994 had already become $106 by
1996, on its way to $112 in 1999; 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 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1994 had the buying
power of $112; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1994 to 1999: $100 is worth $112 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1994 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-1999/