$100 in 1994 is worth $140 in 2007,
because prices increased 39.9% over that period, an average of
2.62% a year.
$100 in 1994 has
the same buying power as
$140
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
39.9%
Average inflation rate
2.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$140
Price difference ($100 base)
$39.91
CPI in 1994
148.2
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1994 → 2007
$140
$100 in 2007 → 1994
$71.48
What happened to prices between 1994 and 2007
Between 1994 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 148.2 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 39.9%, which works out to an average of
2.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1994 bought what
$0.71 buys in 2007: the 1994 dollar
lost 28.5% of its purchasing power over
these 13 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 2007 at the same ratio, 1.40: $1,000 becomes
$1,399, and $10,000 becomes $13,991.
Amount in 1994
Value in 2007
$1.00
$1.40
$5.00
$7.00
$10.00
$13.99
$20.00
$27.98
$50.00
$69.95
$100
$140
$500
$700
$1,000
$1,399
$5,000
$6,995
$10,000
$13,991
$100,000
$139,907
$1,000,000
$1,399,069
Inflation by spending category, 1994–2007
Between 1994 and 2007, energy rose the most, up 98.6%, while apparel fell 10.8%, against 39.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1994
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1994 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.62%
$140
Energy
5.42%
$199
Medical care
3.99%
$166
Housing
2.89%
$145
Food
2.66%
$141
Transportation
2.48%
$138
Education & communication
2.32%
$135
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.31%
$135
Recreation
1.43%
$120
Apparel
-0.87%
$89.20
Decade by decade: 1994 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.69% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.53% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1994–2007 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1994, at end
1994–2000
2.53%
16.2%
$116
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$140
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1994
$100 from 1994 had already become $116 by
2000, on its way to $140 in 2007; 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 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1994 had the buying
power of $140; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1994 to 2007: $100 is worth $140 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1994 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2007/