$100 in 1997 is worth $118 in 2004,
because prices increased 17.7% over that period, an average of
2.35% a year.
$100 in 1997 has
the same buying power as
$118
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
17.7%
Average inflation rate
2.35% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$118
Price difference ($100 base)
$17.69
CPI in 1997
160.5
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1997 → 2004
$118
$100 in 2004 → 1997
$84.97
What happened to prices between 1997 and 2004
Between 1997 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 160.5 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 17.7%, which works out to an average of
2.35% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1997 bought what
$0.85 buys in 2004: the 1997 dollar
lost 15.0% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 2004 at the same ratio, 1.18: $1,000 becomes
$1,177, and $10,000 becomes $11,769.
Amount in 1997
Value in 2004
$1.00
$1.18
$5.00
$5.88
$10.00
$11.77
$20.00
$23.54
$50.00
$58.85
$100
$118
$500
$588
$1,000
$1,177
$5,000
$5,885
$10,000
$11,769
$100,000
$117,695
$1,000,000
$1,176,947
Inflation by spending category, 1997–2004
Between 1997 and 2004, energy rose the most, up 35.8%, while apparel fell 9.4%, against 17.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1997
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1997 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.35%
$118
Energy
4.47%
$136
Medical care
4.07%
$132
Housing
2.74%
$121
Food
2.44%
$118
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.14%
$116
Education & communication
1.81%
$113
Transportation
1.76%
$113
Recreation
1.24%
$109
Apparel
-1.40%
$90.59
Decade by decade: 1997 to 2004
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.37% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.34% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1997–2004 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1997, at end
1997–2000
2.37%
7.3%
$107
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$118
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1997
$100 from 1997 had already become $107 by
2000, on its way to $118 in 2004; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2000, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1997 had the buying
power of $118; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1997 to 2004: $100 is worth $118 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1997 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2004/