$100 in 1996 is worth $160 in 2018,
because prices increased 60.0% over that period, an average of
2.16% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$160
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
60.0%
Average inflation rate
2.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$160
Price difference ($100 base)
$60.04
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1996 → 2018
$160
$100 in 2018 → 1996
$62.48
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2018
Between 1996 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 60.0%, which works out to an average of
2.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.62 buys in 2018: the 1996 dollar
lost 37.5% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 2018 at the same ratio, 1.60: $1,000 becomes
$1,600, and $10,000 becomes $16,004.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2018
$1.00
$1.60
$5.00
$8.00
$10.00
$16.00
$20.00
$32.01
$50.00
$80.02
$100
$160
$500
$800
$1,000
$1,600
$5,000
$8,002
$10,000
$16,004
$100,000
$160,043
$1,000,000
$1,600,427
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2018
Between 1996 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 112.4%, while apparel fell 4.6%, against 60.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.16%
$160
Medical care
3.48%
$212
Energy
3.20%
$200
Housing
2.42%
$169
Food
2.31%
$165
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.03%
$156
Transportation
1.78%
$147
Education & communication
1.66%
$144
Recreation
0.92%
$122
Apparel
-0.21%
$95.41
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.39% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1996–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$160
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $132 by
2007, on its way to $160 in 2018; 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 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1996 had the buying
power of $160; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1996 to 2018: $100 is worth $160 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2018/