$100 in 1995 is worth $118 in 2002,
because prices increased 18.0% over that period, an average of
2.40% a year.
$100 in 1995 has
the same buying power as
$118
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
18.0%
Average inflation rate
2.40% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$118
Price difference ($100 base)
$18.04
CPI in 1995
152.4
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1995 → 2002
$118
$100 in 2002 → 1995
$84.71
What happened to prices between 1995 and 2002
Between 1995 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 152.4 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 18.0%, which works out to an average of
2.40% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1995 bought what
$0.85 buys in 2002: the 1995 dollar
lost 15.3% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 2002 at the same ratio, 1.18: $1,000 becomes
$1,180, and $10,000 becomes $11,804.
Amount in 1995
Value in 2002
$1.00
$1.18
$5.00
$5.90
$10.00
$11.80
$20.00
$23.61
$50.00
$59.02
$100
$118
$500
$590
$1,000
$1,180
$5,000
$5,902
$10,000
$11,804
$100,000
$118,045
$1,000,000
$1,180,446
Inflation by spending category, 1995–2002
Between 1995 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 29.5%, while apparel fell 6.1%, against 18.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1995
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1995 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.40%
$118
Medical care
3.76%
$130
Housing
2.81%
$121
Food
2.48%
$119
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.41%
$118
Education & communication
2.27%
$117
Energy
2.10%
$116
Recreation
1.68%
$112
Transportation
1.36%
$110
Apparel
-0.89%
$93.94
Decade by decade: 1995 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.47% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1995–2002 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1995, at end
1995–2000
2.47%
13.0%
$113
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$118
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1995
$100 from 1995 had already become $107 by
1998, on its way to $118 in 2002; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2000, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1995 had the buying
power of $118; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1995 to 2002: $100 is worth $118 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1995 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2002/