$100 in 1998 is worth $116 in 2004,
because prices increased 15.9% over that period, an average of
2.49% a year.
$100 in 1998 has
the same buying power as
$116
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
15.9%
Average inflation rate
2.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$116
Price difference ($100 base)
$15.89
CPI in 1998
163
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1998 → 2004
$116
$100 in 2004 → 1998
$86.29
What happened to prices between 1998 and 2004
Between 1998 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 163 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 15.9%, which works out to an average of
2.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1998 bought what
$0.86 buys in 2004: the 1998 dollar
lost 13.7% of its purchasing power over
these 6 years.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
Every 1998 amount converts to 2004 at the same ratio, 1.16: $1,000 becomes
$1,159, and $10,000 becomes $11,589.
Amount in 1998
Value in 2004
$1.00
$1.16
$5.00
$5.79
$10.00
$11.59
$20.00
$23.18
$50.00
$57.94
$100
$116
$500
$579
$1,000
$1,159
$5,000
$5,794
$10,000
$11,589
$100,000
$115,890
$1,000,000
$1,158,896
Inflation by spending category, 1998–2004
Between 1998 and 2004, energy rose the most, up 47.1%, while apparel fell 9.5%, against 15.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1998
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1998 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.49%
$116
Energy
6.65%
$147
Medical care
4.21%
$128
Housing
2.82%
$118
Food
2.49%
$116
Transportation
2.38%
$115
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.11%
$113
Education & communication
1.80%
$111
Recreation
1.20%
$107
Apparel
-1.65%
$90.53
Decade by decade: 1998 to 2004
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.78% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.34% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1998–2004 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1998, at end
1998–2000
2.78%
5.6%
$106
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$116
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1998
$100 from 1998 had already become $109 by
2001, on its way to $116 in 2004; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2000, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 2002.
In 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1998 had the buying
power of $116; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1998 to 2004: $100 is worth $116 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1998-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1998 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1998-to-2004/