$100 in 1997 is worth $169 in 2021,
because prices increased 68.8% over that period, an average of
2.21% a year.
$100 in 1997 has
the same buying power as
$169
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
68.8%
Average inflation rate
2.21% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$169
Price difference ($100 base)
$68.83
CPI in 1997
160.5
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 1997 → 2021
$169
$100 in 2021 → 1997
$59.23
What happened to prices between 1997 and 2021
Between 1997 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 160.5 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 68.8%, which works out to an average of
2.21% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1997 bought what
$0.59 buys in 2021: the 1997 dollar
lost 40.8% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 2021 at the same ratio, 1.69: $1,000 becomes
$1,688, and $10,000 becomes $16,883.
Amount in 1997
Value in 2021
$1.00
$1.69
$5.00
$8.44
$10.00
$16.88
$20.00
$33.77
$50.00
$84.41
$100
$169
$500
$844
$1,000
$1,688
$5,000
$8,441
$10,000
$16,883
$100,000
$168,829
$1,000,000
$1,688,287
Inflation by spending category, 1997–2021
Between 1997 and 2021, medical care rose the most, up 123.9%, while apparel fell 9.0%, against 68.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1997
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1997 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.21%
$169
Medical care
3.42%
$224
Energy
3.22%
$214
Housing
2.46%
$179
Food
2.40%
$177
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.07%
$164
Transportation
1.97%
$160
Education & communication
1.56%
$145
Recreation
0.96%
$126
Apparel
-0.39%
$91.04
Decade by decade: 1997 to 2021
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 4.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1997–2021 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$161
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$169
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1997
$100 from 1997 had already become $134 by
2009, on its way to $169 in 2021; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 4.7% in 2021, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2021, prices rose 4.7% and $100 from 1997 had the buying
power of $169; the year's average CPI of 270.97 is the level
behind every 2021 figure on this page.
2021 was the year inflation stopped being background noise. Consumer prices
rose 4.7% on average for the year, and the pace kept building as the months
went on: by December, the 12-month rate had reached 7.0%, the highest since
1982. The proximate cause was a supply chain that could not keep up with a
fast-reopening economy. A global semiconductor shortage choked new car
production and pushed used vehicle prices up by more than a third, the
single largest line item in the year’s inflation math. Lumber, appliances,
and shipping capacity told versions of the same story: demand snapped back
faster than factories, ports, and truckers could handle it. Washington added
fuel in March with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, on top of the
relief already in the pipeline since 2020. For most of the year, the Federal
Reserve called the price surge “transitory,” a temporary reopening effect
expected to fade on its own, and held its policy rate near zero. By
November, with inflation still climbing, the Fed reversed course and began
winding down its bond purchases, the first step toward the rate hikes that
would follow in 2022. Gas averaged $3.01 a gallon for the year, up from
about $2.17 in 2020, while the federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
unchanged since 2009. In hindsight, 2021 reads as the hinge year: the point
where “transitory” inflation became the multi-year fight the Fed spent the
next two years trying to win.
MLA: “Inflation from 1997 to 2021: $100 is worth $169 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1997 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2021/