$100 in 1996 is worth $128 in 2006,
because prices increased 28.5% over that period, an average of
2.54% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$128
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
28.5%
Average inflation rate
2.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$128
Price difference ($100 base)
$28.49
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1996 → 2006
$128
$100 in 2006 → 1996
$77.83
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2006
Between 1996 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 28.5%, which works out to an average of
2.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.78 buys in 2006: the 1996 dollar
lost 22.2% of its purchasing power over
these 10 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 2006 at the same ratio, 1.28: $1,000 becomes
$1,285, and $10,000 becomes $12,849.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2006
$1.00
$1.28
$5.00
$6.42
$10.00
$12.85
$20.00
$25.70
$50.00
$64.24
$100
$128
$500
$642
$1,000
$1,285
$5,000
$6,424
$10,000
$12,849
$100,000
$128,489
$1,000,000
$1,284,895
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2006
Between 1996 and 2006, energy rose the most, up 78.8%, while apparel fell 9.3%, against 28.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.54%
$128
Energy
5.99%
$179
Medical care
3.95%
$147
Housing
2.89%
$133
Food
2.45%
$127
Transportation
2.38%
$127
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.20%
$124
Education & communication
2.06%
$123
Recreation
1.31%
$114
Apparel
-0.97%
$90.74
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.66% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.35% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1996–2006 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1996, at end
1996–2000
2.35%
9.8%
$110
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$128
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $113 by
2001, on its way to $128 in 2006; 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 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1996 had the buying
power of $128; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1996 to 2006: $100 is worth $128 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2006/