$100 in 1995 is worth $165 in 2018,
because prices increased 64.8% over that period, an average of
2.19% a year.
$100 in 1995 has
the same buying power as
$165
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
64.8%
Average inflation rate
2.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$165
Price difference ($100 base)
$64.77
CPI in 1995
152.4
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1995 → 2018
$165
$100 in 2018 → 1995
$60.69
What happened to prices between 1995 and 2018
Between 1995 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 152.4 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 64.8%, which works out to an average of
2.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1995 bought what
$0.61 buys in 2018: the 1995 dollar
lost 39.3% of its purchasing power over
these 23 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 2018 at the same ratio, 1.65: $1,000 becomes
$1,648, and $10,000 becomes $16,477.
Amount in 1995
Value in 2018
$1.00
$1.65
$5.00
$8.24
$10.00
$16.48
$20.00
$32.95
$50.00
$82.38
$100
$165
$500
$824
$1,000
$1,648
$5,000
$8,238
$10,000
$16,477
$100,000
$164,768
$1,000,000
$1,647,684
Inflation by spending category, 1995–2018
Between 1995 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 119.8%, while apparel fell 4.8%, against 64.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1995
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1995 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.19%
$165
Medical care
3.48%
$220
Energy
3.26%
$209
Housing
2.44%
$174
Food
2.36%
$171
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.06%
$160
Transportation
1.82%
$151
Education & communication
1.73%
$148
Recreation
1.01%
$126
Apparel
-0.21%
$95.19
Decade by decade: 1995 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.47% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1995–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$165
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1995
$100 from 1995 had already become $132 by
2006, on its way to $165 in 2018; 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 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1995 had the buying
power of $165; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1995 to 2018: $100 is worth $165 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1995 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2018/