$100 in 1996 is worth $115 in 2002,
because prices increased 14.7% over that period, an average of
2.31% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$115
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
14.7%
Average inflation rate
2.31% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$115
Price difference ($100 base)
$14.66
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1996 → 2002
$115
$100 in 2002 → 1996
$87.22
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2002
Between 1996 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 14.7%, which works out to an average of
2.31% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.87 buys in 2002: the 1996 dollar
lost 12.8% of its purchasing power over
these 6 years.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
Every 1996 amount converts to 2002 at the same ratio, 1.15: $1,000 becomes
$1,147, and $10,000 becomes $11,466.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2002
$1.00
$1.15
$5.00
$5.73
$10.00
$11.47
$20.00
$22.93
$50.00
$57.33
$100
$115
$500
$573
$1,000
$1,147
$5,000
$5,733
$10,000
$11,466
$100,000
$114,659
$1,000,000
$1,146,590
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2002
Between 1996 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 25.2%, while apparel fell 5.8%, against 14.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.31%
$115
Medical care
3.81%
$125
Housing
2.80%
$118
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.36%
$115
Food
2.35%
$115
Education & communication
2.09%
$113
Energy
1.68%
$111
Recreation
1.45%
$109
Transportation
1.12%
$107
Apparel
-1.00%
$94.15
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.35% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1996–2002 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1996, at end
1996–2000
2.35%
9.8%
$110
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$115
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $106 by
1999, on its way to $115 in 2002; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2000, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1996 had the buying
power of $115; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1996 to 2002: $100 is worth $115 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2002/