$100 in 1996 is worth $143 in 2011,
because prices increased 43.4% over that period, an average of
2.43% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$143
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
43.4%
Average inflation rate
2.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$143
Price difference ($100 base)
$43.36
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1996 → 2011
$143
$100 in 2011 → 1996
$69.75
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2011
Between 1996 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 43.4%, which works out to an average of
2.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.70 buys in 2011: the 1996 dollar
lost 30.2% of its purchasing power over
these 15 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 2011 at the same ratio, 1.43: $1,000 becomes
$1,434, and $10,000 becomes $14,336.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2011
$1.00
$1.43
$5.00
$7.17
$10.00
$14.34
$20.00
$28.67
$50.00
$71.68
$100
$143
$500
$717
$1,000
$1,434
$5,000
$7,168
$10,000
$14,336
$100,000
$143,365
$1,000,000
$1,433,646
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2011
Between 1996 and 2011, energy rose the most, up 121.5%, while apparel fell 7.3%, against 43.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.43%
$143
Energy
5.45%
$222
Medical care
3.82%
$175
Food
2.68%
$149
Transportation
2.67%
$149
Housing
2.43%
$143
Education & communication
2.17%
$138
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.06%
$136
Recreation
1.02%
$116
Apparel
-0.50%
$92.72
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 3.16% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.35% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1996–2011 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1996, at end
1996–2000
2.35%
9.8%
$110
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$139
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$143
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $117 by
2003, on its way to $143 in 2011; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.8% in 2008, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1996 had the buying
power of $143; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1996 to 2011: $100 is worth $143 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2011/