$100 in 1999 is worth $121 in 2006,
because prices increased 21.0% over that period, an average of
2.76% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$121
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
21.0%
Average inflation rate
2.76% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$121
Price difference ($100 base)
$21.01
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1999 → 2006
$121
$100 in 2006 → 1999
$82.64
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2006
Between 1999 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 21.0%, which works out to an average of
2.76% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.83 buys in 2006: the 1999 dollar
lost 17.4% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 2006 at the same ratio, 1.21: $1,000 becomes
$1,210, and $10,000 becomes $12,101.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2006
$1.00
$1.21
$5.00
$6.05
$10.00
$12.10
$20.00
$24.20
$50.00
$60.50
$100
$121
$500
$605
$1,000
$1,210
$5,000
$6,050
$10,000
$12,101
$100,000
$121,008
$1,000,000
$1,210,084
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2006
Between 1999 and 2006, energy rose the most, up 84.7%, while apparel fell 9.0%, against 21.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.76%
$121
Energy
9.16%
$185
Medical care
4.29%
$134
Transportation
3.27%
$125
Housing
3.12%
$124
Food
2.51%
$119
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.18%
$116
Education & communication
2.07%
$115
Recreation
1.20%
$109
Apparel
-1.34%
$91.01
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 3.36% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.66% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1999–2006 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1999, at end
1999–2000
3.36%
3.4%
$103
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$121
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $108 by
2002, on its way to $121 in 2006; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2005, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 2002.
In 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1999 had the buying
power of $121; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1999 to 2006: $100 is worth $121 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2006/