$100 in 1998 is worth $166 in 2021,
because prices increased 66.2% over that period, an average of
2.23% a year.
$100 in 1998 has
the same buying power as
$166
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
66.2%
Average inflation rate
2.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$166
Price difference ($100 base)
$66.24
CPI in 1998
163
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 1998 → 2021
$166
$100 in 2021 → 1998
$60.15
What happened to prices between 1998 and 2021
Between 1998 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 163 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 66.2%, which works out to an average of
2.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1998 bought what
$0.60 buys in 2021: the 1998 dollar
lost 39.8% of its purchasing power over
these 23 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 2021 at the same ratio, 1.66: $1,000 becomes
$1,662, and $10,000 becomes $16,624.
Amount in 1998
Value in 2021
$1.00
$1.66
$5.00
$8.31
$10.00
$16.62
$20.00
$33.25
$50.00
$83.12
$100
$166
$500
$831
$1,000
$1,662
$5,000
$8,312
$10,000
$16,624
$100,000
$166,239
$1,000,000
$1,662,393
Inflation by spending category, 1998–2021
Between 1998 and 2021, energy rose the most, up 131.6%, while apparel fell 9.0%, against 66.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1998
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1998 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.23%
$166
Energy
3.72%
$232
Medical care
3.43%
$217
Housing
2.46%
$175
Food
2.41%
$173
Transportation
2.14%
$163
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.06%
$160
Education & communication
1.54%
$142
Recreation
0.93%
$124
Apparel
-0.41%
$90.97
Decade by decade: 1998 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 1998–2021 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$159
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$166
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1998
$100 from 1998 had already become $132 by
2009, on its way to $166 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 1998 had the buying
power of $166; 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 1998 to 2021: $100 is worth $166 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1998-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1998 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1998-to-2021/