$100 in 1998 is worth $138 in 2011,
because prices increased 38.0% over that period, an average of
2.51% a year.
$100 in 1998 has
the same buying power as
$138
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
38.0%
Average inflation rate
2.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$138
Price difference ($100 base)
$38.00
CPI in 1998
163
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1998 → 2011
$138
$100 in 2011 → 1998
$72.46
What happened to prices between 1998 and 2011
Between 1998 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 163 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 38.0%, which works out to an average of
2.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1998 bought what
$0.72 buys in 2011: the 1998 dollar
lost 27.5% of its purchasing power over
these 13 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 2011 at the same ratio, 1.38: $1,000 becomes
$1,380, and $10,000 becomes $13,800.
Amount in 1998
Value in 2011
$1.00
$1.38
$5.00
$6.90
$10.00
$13.80
$20.00
$27.60
$50.00
$69.00
$100
$138
$500
$690
$1,000
$1,380
$5,000
$6,900
$10,000
$13,800
$100,000
$137,999
$1,000,000
$1,379,994
Inflation by spending category, 1998–2011
Between 1998 and 2011, energy rose the most, up 137.0%, while apparel fell 8.2%, against 38.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1998
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1998 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.51%
$138
Energy
6.86%
$237
Medical care
3.94%
$165
Transportation
3.17%
$150
Food
2.72%
$142
Housing
2.43%
$137
Education & communication
2.10%
$131
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.02%
$130
Recreation
0.88%
$112
Apparel
-0.65%
$91.81
Decade by decade: 1998 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 3.16% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1998–2011 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1998, at end
1998–2000
2.78%
5.6%
$106
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$134
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$138
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1998
$100 from 1998 had already become $116 by
2004, on its way to $138 in 2011; 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 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1998 had the buying
power of $138; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1998 to 2011: $100 is worth $138 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1998-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1998 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1998-to-2011/