$100 in 1996 is worth $151 in 2015,
because prices increased 51.1% over that period, an average of
2.19% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$151
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
51.1%
Average inflation rate
2.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$151
Price difference ($100 base)
$51.06
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1996 → 2015
$151
$100 in 2015 → 1996
$66.20
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2015
Between 1996 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 51.1%, which works out to an average of
2.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.66 buys in 2015: the 1996 dollar
lost 33.8% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 2015 at the same ratio, 1.51: $1,000 becomes
$1,511, and $10,000 becomes $15,106.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2015
$1.00
$1.51
$5.00
$7.55
$10.00
$15.11
$20.00
$30.21
$50.00
$75.53
$100
$151
$500
$755
$1,000
$1,511
$5,000
$7,553
$10,000
$15,106
$100,000
$151,062
$1,000,000
$1,510,625
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2015
Between 1996 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 95.8%, while apparel fell 4.4%, against 51.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.19%
$151
Medical care
3.60%
$196
Energy
3.27%
$184
Food
2.55%
$161
Housing
2.36%
$156
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.02%
$146
Education & communication
1.98%
$145
Transportation
1.76%
$139
Recreation
0.92%
$119
Apparel
-0.24%
$95.60
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.39% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1996–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$151
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $124 by
2005, on its way to $151 in 2015; 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 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1996 had the buying
power of $151; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1996 to 2015: $100 is worth $151 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2015/