$100 in 1994 is worth $132 in 2005,
because prices increased 31.8% over that period, an average of
2.54% a year.
$100 in 1994 has
the same buying power as
$132
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
31.8%
Average inflation rate
2.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$132
Price difference ($100 base)
$31.78
CPI in 1994
148.2
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1994 → 2005
$132
$100 in 2005 → 1994
$75.88
What happened to prices between 1994 and 2005
Between 1994 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 148.2 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 31.8%, which works out to an average of
2.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1994 bought what
$0.76 buys in 2005: the 1994 dollar
lost 24.1% of its purchasing power over
these 11 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 2005 at the same ratio, 1.32: $1,000 becomes
$1,318, and $10,000 becomes $13,178.
Amount in 1994
Value in 2005
$1.00
$1.32
$5.00
$6.59
$10.00
$13.18
$20.00
$26.36
$50.00
$65.89
$100
$132
$500
$659
$1,000
$1,318
$5,000
$6,589
$10,000
$13,178
$100,000
$131,781
$1,000,000
$1,317,814
Inflation by spending category, 1994–2005
Between 1994 and 2005, energy rose the most, up 69.3%, while apparel fell 10.4%, against 31.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1994
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1994 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.54%
$132
Energy
4.90%
$169
Medical care
3.95%
$153
Housing
2.78%
$135
Food
2.57%
$132
Transportation
2.38%
$129
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.30%
$128
Education & communication
2.27%
$128
Recreation
1.52%
$118
Apparel
-1.00%
$89.58
Decade by decade: 1994 to 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.55% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.53% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1994–2005 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1994, at end
1994–2000
2.53%
16.2%
$116
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$132
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1994
$100 from 1994 had already become $112 by
1999, on its way to $132 in 2005; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2005, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1994 had the buying
power of $132; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1994 to 2005: $100 is worth $132 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1994 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2005/