$100 in 1999 is worth $144 in 2016,
because prices increased 44.1% over that period, an average of
2.17% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$144
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
44.1%
Average inflation rate
2.17% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$144
Price difference ($100 base)
$44.06
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1999 → 2016
$144
$100 in 2016 → 1999
$69.41
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2016
Between 1999 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 44.1%, which works out to an average of
2.17% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.69 buys in 2016: the 1999 dollar
lost 30.6% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2016 at the same ratio, 1.44: $1,000 becomes
$1,441, and $10,000 becomes $14,406.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2016
$1.00
$1.44
$5.00
$7.20
$10.00
$14.41
$20.00
$28.81
$50.00
$72.03
$100
$144
$500
$720
$1,000
$1,441
$5,000
$7,203
$10,000
$14,406
$100,000
$144,062
$1,000,000
$1,440,618
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2016
Between 1999 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 85.0%, while apparel fell 4.0%, against 44.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.17%
$144
Medical care
3.69%
$185
Energy
3.44%
$178
Food
2.46%
$151
Housing
2.37%
$149
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.99%
$140
Education & communication
1.89%
$137
Transportation
1.78%
$135
Recreation
0.81%
$115
Apparel
-0.24%
$96.00
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 3.36% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1999–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$144
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $124 by
2007, on its way to $144 in 2016; 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 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1999 had the buying
power of $144; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1999 to 2016: $100 is worth $144 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2016/