$100 in 1997 is worth $159 in 2019,
because prices increased 59.3% over that period, an average of
2.14% a year.
$100 in 1997 has
the same buying power as
$159
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
59.3%
Average inflation rate
2.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$159
Price difference ($100 base)
$59.29
CPI in 1997
160.5
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1997 → 2019
$159
$100 in 2019 → 1997
$62.78
What happened to prices between 1997 and 2019
Between 1997 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 160.5 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 59.3%, which works out to an average of
2.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1997 bought what
$0.63 buys in 2019: the 1997 dollar
lost 37.2% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 2019 at the same ratio, 1.59: $1,000 becomes
$1,593, and $10,000 becomes $15,929.
Amount in 1997
Value in 2019
$1.00
$1.59
$5.00
$7.96
$10.00
$15.93
$20.00
$31.86
$50.00
$79.64
$100
$159
$500
$796
$1,000
$1,593
$5,000
$7,964
$10,000
$15,929
$100,000
$159,288
$1,000,000
$1,592,879
Inflation by spending category, 1997–2019
Between 1997 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 112.5%, while apparel fell 6.7%, against 59.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1997
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1997 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.14%
$159
Medical care
3.48%
$212
Energy
3.04%
$193
Housing
2.43%
$170
Food
2.28%
$164
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.02%
$155
Transportation
1.72%
$146
Education & communication
1.54%
$140
Recreation
0.87%
$121
Apparel
-0.31%
$93.34
Decade by decade: 1997 to 2019
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.39% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1997–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$159
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1997
$100 from 1997 had already become $134 by
2008, on its way to $159 in 2019; 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 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1997 had the buying
power of $159; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1997 to 2019: $100 is worth $159 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1997 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2019/