$100 in 1995 is worth $107 in 1998,
because prices increased 7.0% over that period, an average of
2.27% a year.
$100 in 1995 has
the same buying power as
$107
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
7.0%
Average inflation rate
2.27% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$107
Price difference ($100 base)
$6.96
CPI in 1995
152.4
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1995 → 1998
$107
$100 in 1998 → 1995
$93.50
What happened to prices between 1995 and 1998
Between 1995 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 152.4 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 7.0%, which works out to an average of
2.27% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1995 bought what
$0.93 buys in 1998: the 1995 dollar
lost 6.5% of its purchasing power over
these 3 years.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
Every 1995 amount converts to 1998 at the same ratio, 1.07: $1,000 becomes
$1,070, and $10,000 becomes $10,696.
Amount in 1995
Value in 1998
$1.00
$1.07
$5.00
$5.35
$10.00
$10.70
$20.00
$21.39
$50.00
$53.48
$100
$107
$500
$535
$1,000
$1,070
$5,000
$5,348
$10,000
$10,696
$100,000
$106,955
$1,000,000
$1,069,554
Inflation by spending category, 1995–1998
Between 1995 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 9.8%, while energy fell 2.2%, against 7.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1995
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1995 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.27%
$107
Medical care
3.16%
$110
Education & communication
2.85%
$109
Food
2.69%
$108
Housing
2.60%
$108
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.46%
$108
Recreation
2.28%
$107
Transportation
0.60%
$102
Apparel
0.25%
$101
Energy
-0.73%
$97.81
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1995
$100 from 1995 had already become $103 by
1996, on its way to $107 in 1998; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.0% in 1996, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1995 had the buying
power of $107; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1995 to 1998: $100 is worth $107 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1995 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-1998/