$100 in 1994 is worth $121 in 2002,
because prices increased 21.4% over that period, an average of
2.45% a year.
$100 in 1994 has
the same buying power as
$121
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
21.4%
Average inflation rate
2.45% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$121
Price difference ($100 base)
$21.39
CPI in 1994
148.2
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1994 → 2002
$121
$100 in 2002 → 1994
$82.38
What happened to prices between 1994 and 2002
Between 1994 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 148.2 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 21.4%, which works out to an average of
2.45% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1994 bought what
$0.82 buys in 2002: the 1994 dollar
lost 17.6% of its purchasing power over
these 8 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 2002 at the same ratio, 1.21: $1,000 becomes
$1,214, and $10,000 becomes $12,139.
Amount in 1994
Value in 2002
$1.00
$1.21
$5.00
$6.07
$10.00
$12.14
$20.00
$24.28
$50.00
$60.70
$100
$121
$500
$607
$1,000
$1,214
$5,000
$6,070
$10,000
$12,139
$100,000
$121,390
$1,000,000
$1,213,900
Inflation by spending category, 1994–2002
Between 1994 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 35.4%, while apparel fell 7.0%, against 21.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1994
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1994 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.45%
$121
Medical care
3.86%
$135
Housing
2.78%
$125
Food
2.53%
$122
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.49%
$122
Education & communication
2.47%
$122
Energy
1.91%
$116
Recreation
1.71%
$115
Transportation
1.63%
$114
Apparel
-0.91%
$92.95
Decade by decade: 1994 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.53% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1994–2002 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1994, at end
1994–2000
2.53%
16.2%
$116
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$121
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1994
$100 from 1994 had already become $110 by
1998, on its way to $121 in 2002; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2000, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1994 had the buying
power of $121; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1994 to 2002: $100 is worth $121 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1994 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2002/