$100 in 1997 is worth $148 in 2015,
because prices increased 47.7% over that period, an average of
2.19% a year.
$100 in 1997 has
the same buying power as
$148
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
47.7%
Average inflation rate
2.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$148
Price difference ($100 base)
$47.67
CPI in 1997
160.5
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1997 → 2015
$148
$100 in 2015 → 1997
$67.72
What happened to prices between 1997 and 2015
Between 1997 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 160.5 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 47.7%, which works out to an average of
2.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1997 bought what
$0.68 buys in 2015: the 1997 dollar
lost 32.3% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 2015 at the same ratio, 1.48: $1,000 becomes
$1,477, and $10,000 becomes $14,767.
Amount in 1997
Value in 2015
$1.00
$1.48
$5.00
$7.38
$10.00
$14.77
$20.00
$29.53
$50.00
$73.84
$100
$148
$500
$738
$1,000
$1,477
$5,000
$7,384
$10,000
$14,767
$100,000
$147,674
$1,000,000
$1,476,741
Inflation by spending category, 1997–2015
Between 1997 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 90.4%, while apparel fell 5.3%, against 47.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1997
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1997 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.19%
$148
Medical care
3.64%
$190
Energy
3.38%
$182
Food
2.54%
$157
Housing
2.35%
$152
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.00%
$143
Education & communication
1.91%
$140
Transportation
1.80%
$138
Recreation
0.85%
$116
Apparel
-0.30%
$94.74
Decade by decade: 1997 to 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.39% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1997–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$148
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1997
$100 from 1997 had already become $126 by
2006, on its way to $148 in 2015; 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 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1997 had the buying
power of $148; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1997 to 2015: $100 is worth $148 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1997 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2015/