$100 in 1995 is worth $178 in 2021,
because prices increased 77.8% over that period, an average of
2.24% a year.
$100 in 1995 has
the same buying power as
$178
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
77.8%
Average inflation rate
2.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$178
Price difference ($100 base)
$77.80
CPI in 1995
152.4
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 1995 → 2021
$178
$100 in 2021 → 1995
$56.24
What happened to prices between 1995 and 2021
Between 1995 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 152.4 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 77.8%, which works out to an average of
2.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1995 bought what
$0.56 buys in 2021: the 1995 dollar
lost 43.8% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 2021 at the same ratio, 1.78: $1,000 becomes
$1,778, and $10,000 becomes $17,780.
Amount in 1995
Value in 2021
$1.00
$1.78
$5.00
$8.89
$10.00
$17.78
$20.00
$35.56
$50.00
$88.90
$100
$178
$500
$889
$1,000
$1,778
$5,000
$8,890
$10,000
$17,780
$100,000
$177,802
$1,000,000
$1,778,018
Inflation by spending category, 1995–2021
Between 1995 and 2021, medical care rose the most, up 138.2%, while apparel fell 8.3%, against 77.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1995
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1995 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.24%
$178
Medical care
3.39%
$238
Energy
3.20%
$227
Housing
2.48%
$189
Food
2.44%
$187
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.11%
$172
Transportation
1.96%
$166
Education & communication
1.69%
$155
Recreation
1.09%
$132
Apparel
-0.33%
$91.66
Decade by decade: 1995 to 2021
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 4.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1995–2021 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$170
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$178
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1995
$100 from 1995 had already become $141 by
2008, on its way to $178 in 2021; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 4.7% in 2021, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2021, prices rose 4.7% and $100 from 1995 had the buying
power of $178; the year's average CPI of 270.97 is the level
behind every 2021 figure on this page.
2021 was the year inflation stopped being background noise. Consumer prices
rose 4.7% on average for the year, and the pace kept building as the months
went on: by December, the 12-month rate had reached 7.0%, the highest since
1982. The proximate cause was a supply chain that could not keep up with a
fast-reopening economy. A global semiconductor shortage choked new car
production and pushed used vehicle prices up by more than a third, the
single largest line item in the year’s inflation math. Lumber, appliances,
and shipping capacity told versions of the same story: demand snapped back
faster than factories, ports, and truckers could handle it. Washington added
fuel in March with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, on top of the
relief already in the pipeline since 2020. For most of the year, the Federal
Reserve called the price surge “transitory,” a temporary reopening effect
expected to fade on its own, and held its policy rate near zero. By
November, with inflation still climbing, the Fed reversed course and began
winding down its bond purchases, the first step toward the rate hikes that
would follow in 2022. Gas averaged $3.01 a gallon for the year, up from
about $2.17 in 2020, while the federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
unchanged since 2009. In hindsight, 2021 reads as the hinge year: the point
where “transitory” inflation became the multi-year fight the Fed spent the
next two years trying to win.
MLA: “Inflation from 1995 to 2021: $100 is worth $178 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1995 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1995-to-2021/