$100 in 1994 is worth $152 in 2011,
because prices increased 51.8% over that period, an average of
2.48% a year.
$100 in 1994 has
the same buying power as
$152
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
51.8%
Average inflation rate
2.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$152
Price difference ($100 base)
$51.78
CPI in 1994
148.2
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1994 → 2011
$152
$100 in 2011 → 1994
$65.88
What happened to prices between 1994 and 2011
Between 1994 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 148.2 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 51.8%, which works out to an average of
2.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1994 bought what
$0.66 buys in 2011: the 1994 dollar
lost 34.1% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2011 at the same ratio, 1.52: $1,000 becomes
$1,518, and $10,000 becomes $15,178.
Amount in 1994
Value in 2011
$1.00
$1.52
$5.00
$7.59
$10.00
$15.18
$20.00
$30.36
$50.00
$75.89
$100
$152
$500
$759
$1,000
$1,518
$5,000
$7,589
$10,000
$15,178
$100,000
$151,781
$1,000,000
$1,517,807
Inflation by spending category, 1994–2011
Between 1994 and 2011, energy rose the most, up 133.2%, while apparel fell 8.5%, against 51.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1994
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1994 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.48%
$152
Energy
5.11%
$233
Medical care
3.84%
$190
Transportation
2.73%
$158
Food
2.72%
$158
Housing
2.47%
$151
Education & communication
2.33%
$148
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.16%
$144
Recreation
1.19%
$122
Apparel
-0.52%
$91.54
Decade by decade: 1994 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 3.16% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1994–2011 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
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$152
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1994
$100 from 1994 had already become $121 by
2002, on its way to $152 in 2011; 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 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1994 had the buying
power of $152; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1994 to 2011: $100 is worth $152 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1994 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2011/