$100 in 1994 is worth $155 in 2012,
because prices increased 54.9% over that period, an average of
2.46% a year.
$100 in 1994 has
the same buying power as
$155
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
54.9%
Average inflation rate
2.46% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$155
Price difference ($100 base)
$54.92
CPI in 1994
148.2
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1994 → 2012
$155
$100 in 2012 → 1994
$64.55
What happened to prices between 1994 and 2012
Between 1994 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 148.2 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 54.9%, which works out to an average of
2.46% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1994 bought what
$0.65 buys in 2012: the 1994 dollar
lost 35.5% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 2012 at the same ratio, 1.55: $1,000 becomes
$1,549, and $10,000 becomes $15,492.
Amount in 1994
Value in 2012
$1.00
$1.55
$5.00
$7.75
$10.00
$15.49
$20.00
$30.98
$50.00
$77.46
$100
$155
$500
$775
$1,000
$1,549
$5,000
$7,746
$10,000
$15,492
$100,000
$154,922
$1,000,000
$1,549,217
Inflation by spending category, 1994–2012
Between 1994 and 2012, energy rose the most, up 135.3%, while apparel fell 5.3%, against 54.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1994
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1994 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.46%
$155
Energy
4.87%
$235
Medical care
3.83%
$197
Food
2.72%
$162
Transportation
2.71%
$162
Housing
2.42%
$154
Education & communication
2.31%
$151
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.16%
$147
Recreation
1.19%
$124
Apparel
-0.30%
$94.65
Decade by decade: 1994 to 2012
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 2.61% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1994–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$155
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1994
$100 from 1994 had already become $124 by
2003, on its way to $155 in 2012; 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 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1994 had the buying
power of $155; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1994 to 2012: $100 is worth $155 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1994 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2012/