$100 in 1999 is worth $108 in 2002,
because prices increased 8.0% over that period, an average of
2.59% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$108
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
8.0%
Average inflation rate
2.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$108
Price difference ($100 base)
$7.98
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1999 → 2002
$108
$100 in 2002 → 1999
$92.61
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2002
Between 1999 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 8.0%, which works out to an average of
2.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.93 buys in 2002: the 1999 dollar
lost 7.4% of its purchasing power over
these 3 years.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
Every 1999 amount converts to 2002 at the same ratio, 1.08: $1,000 becomes
$1,080, and $10,000 becomes $10,798.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2002
$1.00
$1.08
$5.00
$5.40
$10.00
$10.80
$20.00
$21.60
$50.00
$53.99
$100
$108
$500
$540
$1,000
$1,080
$5,000
$5,399
$10,000
$10,798
$100,000
$107,983
$1,000,000
$1,079,832
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2002
Between 1999 and 2002, energy rose the most, up 14.2%, while apparel fell 5.6%, against 8.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.59%
$108
Energy
4.51%
$114
Medical care
4.45%
$114
Housing
3.23%
$110
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.48%
$108
Food
2.40%
$107
Education & communication
2.16%
$107
Transportation
1.92%
$106
Recreation
1.35%
$104
Apparel
-1.89%
$94.44
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 3.36% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1999–2002 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1999, at end
1999–2000
3.36%
3.4%
$103
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$108
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $103 by
2000, on its way to $108 in 2002; 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 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1999 had the buying
power of $108; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1999 to 2002: $100 is worth $108 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2002/