$100 in 1995 is worth $124 in 2004,
because prices increased 24.0% over that period, an average of
2.41% a year.
$100 in 1995 has
the same buying power as
$124
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
24.0%
Average inflation rate
2.41% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$124
Price difference ($100 base)
$23.95
CPI in 1995
152.4
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1995 → 2004
$124
$100 in 2004 → 1995
$80.68
What happened to prices between 1995 and 2004
Between 1995 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 152.4 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 24.0%, which works out to an average of
2.41% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1995 bought what
$0.81 buys in 2004: the 1995 dollar
lost 19.3% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 2004 at the same ratio, 1.24: $1,000 becomes
$1,240, and $10,000 becomes $12,395.
Amount in 1995
Value in 2004
$1.00
$1.24
$5.00
$6.20
$10.00
$12.40
$20.00
$24.79
$50.00
$61.98
$100
$124
$500
$620
$1,000
$1,240
$5,000
$6,198
$10,000
$12,395
$100,000
$123,950
$1,000,000
$1,239,501
Inflation by spending category, 1995–2004
Between 1995 and 2004, energy rose the most, up 43.9%, while apparel fell 8.8%, against 24.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1995
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1995 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.41%
$124
Energy
4.13%
$144
Medical care
3.86%
$141
Housing
2.75%
$128
Food
2.55%
$125
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.23%
$122
Education & communication
2.14%
$121
Transportation
1.78%
$117
Recreation
1.56%
$115
Apparel
-1.02%
$91.21
Decade by decade: 1995 to 2004
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.47% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.34% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1995–2004 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1995, at end
1995–2000
2.47%
13.0%
$113
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$124
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1995
$100 from 1995 had already become $109 by
1999, on its way to $124 in 2004; 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 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1995 had the buying
power of $124; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1995 to 2004: $100 is worth $124 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1995 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2004/