$100 in 1997 is worth $122 in 2005,
because prices increased 21.7% over that period, an average of
2.48% a year.
$100 in 1997 has
the same buying power as
$122
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
21.7%
Average inflation rate
2.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$122
Price difference ($100 base)
$21.68
CPI in 1997
160.5
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1997 → 2005
$122
$100 in 2005 → 1997
$82.18
What happened to prices between 1997 and 2005
Between 1997 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 160.5 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 21.7%, which works out to an average of
2.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1997 bought what
$0.82 buys in 2005: the 1997 dollar
lost 17.8% of its purchasing power over
these 8 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 2005 at the same ratio, 1.22: $1,000 becomes
$1,217, and $10,000 becomes $12,168.
Amount in 1997
Value in 2005
$1.00
$1.22
$5.00
$6.08
$10.00
$12.17
$20.00
$24.34
$50.00
$60.84
$100
$122
$500
$608
$1,000
$1,217
$5,000
$6,084
$10,000
$12,168
$100,000
$121,682
$1,000,000
$1,216,822
Inflation by spending category, 1997–2005
Between 1997 and 2005, energy rose the most, up 58.8%, while apparel fell 10.1%, against 21.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1997
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1997 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.48%
$122
Energy
5.95%
$159
Medical care
4.09%
$138
Housing
2.81%
$125
Food
2.44%
$121
Transportation
2.36%
$121
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.15%
$119
Education & communication
1.82%
$116
Recreation
1.18%
$110
Apparel
-1.32%
$89.92
Decade by decade: 1997 to 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.55% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.37% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1997–2005 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1997, at end
1997–2000
2.37%
7.3%
$107
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$122
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1997
$100 from 1997 had already become $110 by
2001, on its way to $122 in 2005; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2005, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1997 had the buying
power of $122; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1997 to 2005: $100 is worth $122 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1997 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2005/