$100 in 1994 is worth $147 in 2010,
because prices increased 47.1% over that period, an average of
2.44% a year.
$100 in 1994 has
the same buying power as
$147
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
47.1%
Average inflation rate
2.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$147
Price difference ($100 base)
$47.14
CPI in 1994
148.2
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1994 → 2010
$147
$100 in 2010 → 1994
$67.96
What happened to prices between 1994 and 2010
Between 1994 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 148.2 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 47.1%, which works out to an average of
2.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1994 bought what
$0.68 buys in 2010: the 1994 dollar
lost 32.0% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 2010 at the same ratio, 1.47: $1,000 becomes
$1,471, and $10,000 becomes $14,714.
Amount in 1994
Value in 2010
$1.00
$1.47
$5.00
$7.36
$10.00
$14.71
$20.00
$29.43
$50.00
$73.57
$100
$147
$500
$736
$1,000
$1,471
$5,000
$7,357
$10,000
$14,714
$100,000
$147,136
$1,000,000
$1,471,363
Inflation by spending category, 1994–2010
Between 1994 and 2010, energy rose the most, up 102.2%, while apparel fell 10.4%, against 47.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1994
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1994 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.44%
$147
Energy
4.50%
$202
Medical care
3.89%
$184
Food
2.66%
$152
Housing
2.54%
$149
Education & communication
2.41%
$146
Transportation
2.31%
$144
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.19%
$141
Recreation
1.26%
$122
Apparel
-0.69%
$89.58
Decade by decade: 1994 to 2010
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.53% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1994–2010 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1994, at end
1994–2000
2.53%
16.2%
$116
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$147
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1994
$100 from 1994 had already become $121 by
2002, on its way to $147 in 2010; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.8% in 2008, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1994 had the buying
power of $147; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1994 to 2010: $100 is worth $147 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1994 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2010/