Value of $100 in 1998, adjusted to 2026

What happened to prices between 1998 and 2026

Between 1998 and 2026, the Consumer Price Index went from 163 to 332.243. Cumulatively, prices increased 103.8%, which works out to an average of 2.58% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1998 bought what $0.49 buys in 2026: the 1998 dollar lost 50.9% of its purchasing power over these 28 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.

More about inflation in 1998 →

The destination year: 2026

In 2026, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1998 had the buying power of $204; the year's average CPI of 332.243 is the level behind every 2026 figure on this page.