$100 in 1996 is worth $120 in 2004,
because prices increased 20.4% over that period, an average of
2.35% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$120
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
20.4%
Average inflation rate
2.35% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$120
Price difference ($100 base)
$20.40
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1996 → 2004
$120
$100 in 2004 → 1996
$83.06
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2004
Between 1996 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 20.4%, which works out to an average of
2.35% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.83 buys in 2004: the 1996 dollar
lost 16.9% of its purchasing power over
these 8 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 2004 at the same ratio, 1.20: $1,000 becomes
$1,204, and $10,000 becomes $12,040.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2004
$1.00
$1.20
$5.00
$6.02
$10.00
$12.04
$20.00
$24.08
$50.00
$60.20
$100
$120
$500
$602
$1,000
$1,204
$5,000
$6,020
$10,000
$12,040
$100,000
$120,395
$1,000,000
$1,203,952
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2004
Between 1996 and 2004, energy rose the most, up 37.5%, while apparel fell 8.6%, against 20.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.35%
$120
Energy
4.06%
$138
Medical care
3.91%
$136
Housing
2.73%
$124
Food
2.46%
$121
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.17%
$119
Education & communication
1.99%
$117
Transportation
1.66%
$114
Recreation
1.37%
$111
Apparel
-1.12%
$91.42
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2004
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.35% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.34% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1996–2004 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1996, at end
1996–2000
2.35%
9.8%
$110
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$120
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $110 by
2000, on its way to $120 in 2004; 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 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1996 had the buying
power of $120; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1996 to 2004: $100 is worth $120 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2004/