$100 in 1995 is worth $151 in 2012,
because prices increased 50.7% over that period, an average of
2.44% a year.
$100 in 1995 has
the same buying power as
$151
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
50.7%
Average inflation rate
2.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$151
Price difference ($100 base)
$50.65
CPI in 1995
152.4
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1995 → 2012
$151
$100 in 2012 → 1995
$66.38
What happened to prices between 1995 and 2012
Between 1995 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 152.4 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 50.7%, which works out to an average of
2.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1995 bought what
$0.66 buys in 2012: the 1995 dollar
lost 33.6% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2012 at the same ratio, 1.51: $1,000 becomes
$1,507, and $10,000 becomes $15,065.
Amount in 1995
Value in 2012
$1.00
$1.51
$5.00
$7.53
$10.00
$15.07
$20.00
$30.13
$50.00
$75.33
$100
$151
$500
$753
$1,000
$1,507
$5,000
$7,533
$10,000
$15,065
$100,000
$150,652
$1,000,000
$1,506,522
Inflation by spending category, 1995–2012
Between 1995 and 2012, energy rose the most, up 133.9%, while apparel fell 4.3%, against 50.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1995
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1995 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.44%
$151
Energy
5.13%
$234
Medical care
3.79%
$188
Food
2.71%
$158
Transportation
2.66%
$156
Housing
2.41%
$150
Education & communication
2.22%
$145
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.11%
$143
Recreation
1.15%
$121
Apparel
-0.26%
$95.66
Decade by decade: 1995 to 2012
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 2.61% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1995–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$151
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1995
$100 from 1995 had already become $121 by
2003, on its way to $151 in 2012; 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 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1995 had the buying
power of $151; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1995 to 2012: $100 is worth $151 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1995 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2012/