$100 in 1996 is worth $163 in 2019,
because prices increased 62.9% over that period, an average of
2.15% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$163
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
62.9%
Average inflation rate
2.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$163
Price difference ($100 base)
$62.94
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1996 → 2019
$163
$100 in 2019 → 1996
$61.37
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2019
Between 1996 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 62.9%, which works out to an average of
2.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.61 buys in 2019: the 1996 dollar
lost 38.6% of its purchasing power over
these 23 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 2019 at the same ratio, 1.63: $1,000 becomes
$1,629, and $10,000 becomes $16,294.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2019
$1.00
$1.63
$5.00
$8.15
$10.00
$16.29
$20.00
$32.59
$50.00
$81.47
$100
$163
$500
$815
$1,000
$1,629
$5,000
$8,147
$10,000
$16,294
$100,000
$162,943
$1,000,000
$1,629,426
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2019
Between 1996 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 118.4%, while apparel fell 5.8%, against 62.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.15%
$163
Medical care
3.45%
$218
Energy
2.96%
$196
Housing
2.44%
$174
Food
2.29%
$169
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.04%
$159
Transportation
1.69%
$147
Education & communication
1.62%
$145
Recreation
0.93%
$124
Apparel
-0.26%
$94.19
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2019
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 1996–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$163
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $132 by
2007, on its way to $163 in 2019; 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 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1996 had the buying
power of $163; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1996 to 2019: $100 is worth $163 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2019/