$100 in 1996 is worth $124 in 2005,
because prices increased 24.5% over that period, an average of
2.46% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$124
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
24.5%
Average inflation rate
2.46% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$124
Price difference ($100 base)
$24.47
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1996 → 2005
$124
$100 in 2005 → 1996
$80.34
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2005
Between 1996 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 24.5%, which works out to an average of
2.46% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.80 buys in 2005: the 1996 dollar
lost 19.7% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 2005 at the same ratio, 1.24: $1,000 becomes
$1,245, and $10,000 becomes $12,447.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2005
$1.00
$1.24
$5.00
$6.22
$10.00
$12.45
$20.00
$24.89
$50.00
$62.24
$100
$124
$500
$622
$1,000
$1,245
$5,000
$6,224
$10,000
$12,447
$100,000
$124,474
$1,000,000
$1,244,742
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2005
Between 1996 and 2005, energy rose the most, up 60.9%, while apparel fell 9.3%, against 24.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.46%
$124
Energy
5.42%
$161
Medical care
3.94%
$142
Housing
2.79%
$128
Food
2.46%
$124
Transportation
2.20%
$122
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.17%
$121
Education & communication
1.98%
$119
Recreation
1.30%
$112
Apparel
-1.07%
$90.74
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.55% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.35% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1996–2005 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1996, at end
1996–2000
2.35%
9.8%
$110
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$124
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $110 by
2000, on its way to $124 in 2005; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2005, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1996 had the buying
power of $124; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1996 to 2005: $100 is worth $124 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2005/