$100 in 1999 is worth $113 in 2004,
because prices increased 13.4% over that period, an average of
2.54% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$113
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
13.4%
Average inflation rate
2.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$113
Price difference ($100 base)
$13.39
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1999 → 2004
$113
$100 in 2004 → 1999
$88.19
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2004
Between 1999 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 13.4%, which works out to an average of
2.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.88 buys in 2004: the 1999 dollar
lost 11.8% of its purchasing power over
these 5 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 2004 at the same ratio, 1.13: $1,000 becomes
$1,134, and $10,000 becomes $11,339.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2004
$1.00
$1.13
$5.00
$5.67
$10.00
$11.34
$20.00
$22.68
$50.00
$56.69
$100
$113
$500
$567
$1,000
$1,134
$5,000
$5,669
$10,000
$11,339
$100,000
$113,385
$1,000,000
$1,133,854
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2004
Between 1999 and 2004, energy rose the most, up 42.0%, while apparel fell 8.3%, against 13.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.54%
$113
Energy
7.27%
$142
Medical care
4.35%
$124
Housing
2.95%
$116
Food
2.56%
$113
Transportation
2.47%
$113
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.12%
$111
Education & communication
1.98%
$110
Recreation
1.26%
$106
Apparel
-1.72%
$91.70
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2004
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 3.36% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.34% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1999–2004 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1999, at end
1999–2000
3.36%
3.4%
$103
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$113
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $106 by
2001, on its way to $113 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 1999 had the buying
power of $113; 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 1999 to 2004: $100 is worth $113 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2004/