$100 in 1995 is worth $148 in 2011,
because prices increased 47.6% over that period, an average of
2.46% a year.
$100 in 1995 has
the same buying power as
$148
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
47.6%
Average inflation rate
2.46% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$148
Price difference ($100 base)
$47.60
CPI in 1995
152.4
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1995 → 2011
$148
$100 in 2011 → 1995
$67.75
What happened to prices between 1995 and 2011
Between 1995 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 152.4 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 47.6%, which works out to an average of
2.46% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1995 bought what
$0.68 buys in 2011: the 1995 dollar
lost 32.2% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 2011 at the same ratio, 1.48: $1,000 becomes
$1,476, and $10,000 becomes $14,760.
Amount in 1995
Value in 2011
$1.00
$1.48
$5.00
$7.38
$10.00
$14.76
$20.00
$29.52
$50.00
$73.80
$100
$148
$500
$738
$1,000
$1,476
$5,000
$7,380
$10,000
$14,760
$100,000
$147,598
$1,000,000
$1,475,978
Inflation by spending category, 1995–2011
Between 1995 and 2011, energy rose the most, up 131.9%, while apparel fell 7.5%, against 47.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1995
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1995 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.46%
$148
Energy
5.40%
$232
Medical care
3.80%
$182
Food
2.72%
$154
Transportation
2.68%
$153
Housing
2.46%
$148
Education & communication
2.24%
$143
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.11%
$140
Recreation
1.14%
$120
Apparel
-0.49%
$92.51
Decade by decade: 1995 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 3.16% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1995–2011 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1995, at end
1995–2000
2.47%
13.0%
$113
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$143
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$148
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1995
$100 from 1995 had already become $121 by
2003, on its way to $148 in 2011; 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 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1995 had the buying
power of $148; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1995 to 2011: $100 is worth $148 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1995 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2011/