$100 in 1997 is worth $140 in 2011,
because prices increased 40.1% over that period, an average of
2.44% a year.
$100 in 1997 has
the same buying power as
$140
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
40.1%
Average inflation rate
2.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$140
Price difference ($100 base)
$40.15
CPI in 1997
160.5
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1997 → 2011
$140
$100 in 2011 → 1997
$71.35
What happened to prices between 1997 and 2011
Between 1997 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 160.5 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 40.1%, which works out to an average of
2.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1997 bought what
$0.71 buys in 2011: the 1997 dollar
lost 28.6% of its purchasing power over
these 14 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 2011 at the same ratio, 1.40: $1,000 becomes
$1,401, and $10,000 becomes $14,015.
Amount in 1997
Value in 2011
$1.00
$1.40
$5.00
$7.01
$10.00
$14.01
$20.00
$28.03
$50.00
$70.07
$100
$140
$500
$701
$1,000
$1,401
$5,000
$7,007
$10,000
$14,015
$100,000
$140,149
$1,000,000
$1,401,489
Inflation by spending category, 1997–2011
Between 1997 and 2011, energy rose the most, up 118.8%, while apparel fell 8.1%, against 40.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1997
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1997 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.44%
$140
Energy
5.75%
$219
Medical care
3.89%
$171
Transportation
2.80%
$147
Food
2.68%
$145
Housing
2.42%
$140
Education & communication
2.09%
$134
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.04%
$133
Recreation
0.93%
$114
Apparel
-0.60%
$91.88
Decade by decade: 1997 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 3.16% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.37% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1997–2011 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1997, at end
1997–2000
2.37%
7.3%
$107
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$136
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$140
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1997
$100 from 1997 had already become $118 by
2004, on its way to $140 in 2011; 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 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1997 had the buying
power of $140; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1997 to 2011: $100 is worth $140 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1997 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2011/