Value of $100 in 1997, adjusted to 2026

What happened to prices between 1997 and 2026

Between 1997 and 2026, the Consumer Price Index went from 160.5 to 332.243. Cumulatively, prices increased 107.0%, which works out to an average of 2.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1997 bought what $0.48 buys in 2026: the 1997 dollar lost 51.7% of its purchasing power over these 29 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.

More about inflation in 1997 →

The destination year: 2026

In 2026, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1997 had the buying power of $207; the year's average CPI of 332.243 is the level behind every 2026 figure on this page.