$100 in 1999 is worth $147 in 2017,
because prices increased 47.1% over that period, an average of
2.17% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$147
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
47.1%
Average inflation rate
2.17% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$147
Price difference ($100 base)
$47.13
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1999 → 2017
$147
$100 in 2017 → 1999
$67.97
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2017
Between 1999 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 47.1%, which works out to an average of
2.17% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.68 buys in 2017: the 1999 dollar
lost 32.0% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 2017 at the same ratio, 1.47: $1,000 becomes
$1,471, and $10,000 becomes $14,713.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2017
$1.00
$1.47
$5.00
$7.36
$10.00
$14.71
$20.00
$29.43
$50.00
$73.57
$100
$147
$500
$736
$1,000
$1,471
$5,000
$7,357
$10,000
$14,713
$100,000
$147,131
$1,000,000
$1,471,309
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2017
Between 1999 and 2017, energy rose the most, up 91.9%, while apparel fell 4.3%, against 47.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.17%
$147
Energy
3.69%
$192
Medical care
3.62%
$190
Housing
2.40%
$153
Food
2.37%
$152
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.99%
$142
Transportation
1.87%
$140
Education & communication
1.68%
$135
Recreation
0.84%
$116
Apparel
-0.25%
$95.67
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 3.36% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1999–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$147
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $129 by
2008, on its way to $147 in 2017; 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 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1999 had the buying
power of $147; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1999 to 2017: $100 is worth $147 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2017/