$100 in 1995 is worth $109 in 1999,
because prices increased 9.3% over that period, an average of
2.25% a year.
$100 in 1995 has
the same buying power as
$109
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
9.3%
Average inflation rate
2.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$109
Price difference ($100 base)
$9.32
CPI in 1995
152.4
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1995 → 1999
$109
$100 in 1999 → 1995
$91.48
What happened to prices between 1995 and 1999
Between 1995 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 152.4 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 9.3%, which works out to an average of
2.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1995 bought what
$0.91 buys in 1999: the 1995 dollar
lost 8.5% of its purchasing power over
these 4 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 1999 at the same ratio, 1.09: $1,000 becomes
$1,093, and $10,000 becomes $10,932.
Amount in 1995
Value in 1999
$1.00
$1.09
$5.00
$5.47
$10.00
$10.93
$20.00
$21.86
$50.00
$54.66
$100
$109
$500
$547
$1,000
$1,093
$5,000
$5,466
$10,000
$10,932
$100,000
$109,318
$1,000,000
$1,093,176
Inflation by spending category, 1995–1999
Between 1995 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 13.7%, while apparel fell 0.5%, against 9.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1995
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1995 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.25%
$109
Medical care
3.25%
$114
Food
2.55%
$111
Housing
2.50%
$110
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.37%
$110
Education & communication
2.36%
$110
Recreation
1.93%
$108
Transportation
0.94%
$104
Energy
0.33%
$101
Apparel
-0.13%
$99.47
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1995
$100 from 1995 had already become $105 by
1997, on its way to $109 in 1999; 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 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1995 had the buying
power of $109; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1995 to 1999: $100 is worth $109 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1995 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-1999/