$100 in 1999 is worth $142 in 2015,
because prices increased 42.3% over that period, an average of
2.23% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$142
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
42.3%
Average inflation rate
2.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$142
Price difference ($100 base)
$42.27
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1999 → 2015
$142
$100 in 2015 → 1999
$70.29
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2015
Between 1999 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 42.3%, which works out to an average of
2.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.70 buys in 2015: the 1999 dollar
lost 29.7% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 2015 at the same ratio, 1.42: $1,000 becomes
$1,423, and $10,000 becomes $14,227.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2015
$1.00
$1.42
$5.00
$7.11
$10.00
$14.23
$20.00
$28.45
$50.00
$71.13
$100
$142
$500
$711
$1,000
$1,423
$5,000
$7,113
$10,000
$14,227
$100,000
$142,267
$1,000,000
$1,422,671
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2015
Between 1999 and 2015, energy rose the most, up 90.3%, while apparel fell 4.1%, against 42.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.23%
$142
Energy
4.10%
$190
Medical care
3.68%
$178
Food
2.59%
$151
Housing
2.36%
$145
Transportation
2.03%
$138
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.98%
$137
Education & communication
1.97%
$137
Recreation
0.80%
$114
Apparel
-0.26%
$95.89
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 3.36% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1999–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$142
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $124 by
2007, on its way to $142 in 2015; 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 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1999 had the buying
power of $142; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1999 to 2015: $100 is worth $142 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2015/