$100 in 1996 is worth $156 in 2017,
because prices increased 56.2% over that period, an average of
2.15% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$156
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
56.2%
Average inflation rate
2.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$156
Price difference ($100 base)
$56.23
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1996 → 2017
$156
$100 in 2017 → 1996
$64.01
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2017
Between 1996 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 56.2%, which works out to an average of
2.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.64 buys in 2017: the 1996 dollar
lost 36.0% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 2017 at the same ratio, 1.56: $1,000 becomes
$1,562, and $10,000 becomes $15,623.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2017
$1.00
$1.56
$5.00
$7.81
$10.00
$15.62
$20.00
$31.25
$50.00
$78.11
$100
$156
$500
$781
$1,000
$1,562
$5,000
$7,811
$10,000
$15,623
$100,000
$156,227
$1,000,000
$1,562,269
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2017
Between 1996 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 108.3%, while apparel fell 4.6%, against 56.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.15%
$156
Medical care
3.56%
$208
Energy
2.99%
$186
Housing
2.40%
$164
Food
2.36%
$163
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.02%
$152
Education & communication
1.73%
$143
Transportation
1.65%
$141
Recreation
0.94%
$122
Apparel
-0.23%
$95.38
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.39% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1996–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$156
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $128 by
2006, on its way to $156 in 2017; 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 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1996 had the buying
power of $156; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1996 to 2017: $100 is worth $156 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2017/