$100 in 1996 is worth $132 in 2007,
because prices increased 32.1% over that period, an average of
2.57% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$132
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
32.1%
Average inflation rate
2.57% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$132
Price difference ($100 base)
$32.15
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1996 → 2007
$132
$100 in 2007 → 1996
$75.67
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2007
Between 1996 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 32.1%, which works out to an average of
2.57% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.76 buys in 2007: the 1996 dollar
lost 24.3% of its purchasing power over
these 11 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 2007 at the same ratio, 1.32: $1,000 becomes
$1,321, and $10,000 becomes $13,215.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2007
$1.00
$1.32
$5.00
$6.61
$10.00
$13.21
$20.00
$26.43
$50.00
$66.07
$100
$132
$500
$661
$1,000
$1,321
$5,000
$6,607
$10,000
$13,215
$100,000
$132,149
$1,000,000
$1,321,491
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2007
Between 1996 and 2007, energy rose the most, up 88.7%, while apparel fell 9.6%, against 32.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.57%
$132
Energy
5.94%
$189
Medical care
3.99%
$154
Housing
2.91%
$137
Food
2.58%
$132
Transportation
2.35%
$129
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.22%
$127
Education & communication
2.08%
$125
Recreation
1.23%
$114
Apparel
-0.92%
$90.36
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.69% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.35% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1996–2007 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1996, at end
1996–2000
2.35%
9.8%
$110
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$132
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $113 by
2001, on its way to $132 in 2007; 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 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1996 had the buying
power of $132; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1996 to 2007: $100 is worth $132 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2007/