$100 in 1997 is worth $104 in 1999,
because prices increased 3.8% over that period, an average of
1.88% a year.
$100 in 1997 has
the same buying power as
$104
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
3.8%
Average inflation rate
1.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$104
Price difference ($100 base)
$3.80
CPI in 1997
160.5
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1997 → 1999
$104
$100 in 1999 → 1997
$96.34
What happened to prices between 1997 and 1999
Between 1997 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 160.5 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 3.8%, which works out to an average of
1.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1997 bought what
$0.96 buys in 1999: the 1997 dollar
lost 3.7% of its purchasing power over
these 2 years.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
Every 1997 amount converts to 1999 at the same ratio, 1.04: $1,000 becomes
$1,038, and $10,000 becomes $10,380.
Amount in 1997
Value in 1999
$1.00
$1.04
$5.00
$5.19
$10.00
$10.38
$20.00
$20.76
$50.00
$51.90
$100
$104
$500
$519
$1,000
$1,038
$5,000
$5,190
$10,000
$10,380
$100,000
$103,801
$1,000,000
$1,038,006
Inflation by spending category, 1997–1999
Between 1997 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 6.8%, while energy fell 4.4%, against 3.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1997
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1997 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.88%
$104
Medical care
3.35%
$107
Housing
2.24%
$105
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.19%
$104
Food
2.14%
$104
Education & communication
1.41%
$103
Recreation
1.20%
$102
Transportation
0.03%
$100
Apparel
-0.60%
$98.80
Energy
-2.22%
$95.61
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1997
$100 from 1997 had already become $102 by
1998, on its way to $104 in 1999; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 2.2% in 1999, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1997 had the buying
power of $104; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1997 to 1999: $100 is worth $104 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1997 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-1999/