$100 in 1995 is worth $161 in 2017,
because prices increased 60.8% over that period, an average of
2.18% a year.
$100 in 1995 has
the same buying power as
$161
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
60.8%
Average inflation rate
2.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$161
Price difference ($100 base)
$60.84
CPI in 1995
152.4
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1995 → 2017
$161
$100 in 2017 → 1995
$62.17
What happened to prices between 1995 and 2017
Between 1995 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 152.4 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 60.8%, which works out to an average of
2.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1995 bought what
$0.62 buys in 2017: the 1995 dollar
lost 37.8% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 2017 at the same ratio, 1.61: $1,000 becomes
$1,608, and $10,000 becomes $16,084.
Amount in 1995
Value in 2017
$1.00
$1.61
$5.00
$8.04
$10.00
$16.08
$20.00
$32.17
$50.00
$80.42
$100
$161
$500
$804
$1,000
$1,608
$5,000
$8,042
$10,000
$16,084
$100,000
$160,840
$1,000,000
$1,608,399
Inflation by spending category, 1995–2017
Between 1995 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 115.6%, while apparel fell 4.8%, against 60.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1995
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1995 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.18%
$161
Medical care
3.55%
$216
Energy
3.07%
$194
Housing
2.42%
$169
Food
2.40%
$169
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.05%
$156
Education & communication
1.80%
$148
Transportation
1.70%
$145
Recreation
1.03%
$125
Apparel
-0.23%
$95.16
Decade by decade: 1995 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.47% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1995–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$161
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1995
$100 from 1995 had already become $132 by
2006, on its way to $161 in 2017; 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 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1995 had the buying
power of $161; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1995 to 2017: $100 is worth $161 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1995 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2017/