$100 in 1994 is worth $169 in 2018,
because prices increased 69.4% over that period, an average of
2.22% a year.
$100 in 1994 has
the same buying power as
$169
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
69.4%
Average inflation rate
2.22% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$169
Price difference ($100 base)
$69.44
CPI in 1994
148.2
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1994 → 2018
$169
$100 in 2018 → 1994
$59.02
What happened to prices between 1994 and 2018
Between 1994 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 148.2 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 69.4%, which works out to an average of
2.22% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1994 bought what
$0.59 buys in 2018: the 1994 dollar
lost 41.0% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 2018 at the same ratio, 1.69: $1,000 becomes
$1,694, and $10,000 becomes $16,944.
Amount in 1994
Value in 2018
$1.00
$1.69
$5.00
$8.47
$10.00
$16.94
$20.00
$33.89
$50.00
$84.72
$100
$169
$500
$847
$1,000
$1,694
$5,000
$8,472
$10,000
$16,944
$100,000
$169,438
$1,000,000
$1,694,379
Inflation by spending category, 1994–2018
Between 1994 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 129.7%, while apparel fell 5.8%, against 69.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1994
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1994 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.22%
$169
Medical care
3.53%
$230
Energy
3.15%
$210
Housing
2.44%
$179
Food
2.38%
$176
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.10%
$165
Transportation
1.89%
$157
Education & communication
1.82%
$154
Recreation
1.05%
$128
Apparel
-0.25%
$94.19
Decade by decade: 1994 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.53% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1994–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$169
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1994
$100 from 1994 had already become $136 by
2006, on its way to $169 in 2018; 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 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1994 had the buying
power of $169; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1994 to 2018: $100 is worth $169 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1994 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1994-to-2018/