$100 in 1999 is worth $131 in 2010,
because prices increased 30.9% over that period, an average of
2.48% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$131
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
30.9%
Average inflation rate
2.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$131
Price difference ($100 base)
$30.89
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1999 → 2010
$131
$100 in 2010 → 1999
$76.40
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2010
Between 1999 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 30.9%, which works out to an average of
2.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.76 buys in 2010: the 1999 dollar
lost 23.6% of its purchasing power over
these 11 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 2010 at the same ratio, 1.31: $1,000 becomes
$1,309, and $10,000 becomes $13,089.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2010
$1.00
$1.31
$5.00
$6.54
$10.00
$13.09
$20.00
$26.18
$50.00
$65.44
$100
$131
$500
$654
$1,000
$1,309
$5,000
$6,544
$10,000
$13,089
$100,000
$130,886
$1,000,000
$1,308,860
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2010
Between 1999 and 2010, energy rose the most, up 98.4%, while apparel fell 9.0%, against 30.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.48%
$131
Energy
6.42%
$198
Medical care
4.06%
$155
Transportation
2.69%
$134
Food
2.68%
$134
Housing
2.55%
$132
Education & communication
2.30%
$128
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.05%
$125
Recreation
0.96%
$111
Apparel
-0.85%
$91.02
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2010
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 3.36% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1999–2010 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1999, at end
1999–2000
3.36%
3.4%
$103
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$131
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $113 by
2004, on its way to $131 in 2010; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.8% in 2008, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1999 had the buying
power of $131; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1999 to 2010: $100 is worth $131 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2010/