$100 in 1999 is worth $151 in 2018,
because prices increased 50.7% over that period, an average of
2.18% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$151
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
50.7%
Average inflation rate
2.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$151
Price difference ($100 base)
$50.72
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1999 → 2018
$151
$100 in 2018 → 1999
$66.35
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2018
Between 1999 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 50.7%, which works out to an average of
2.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.66 buys in 2018: the 1999 dollar
lost 33.7% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 2018 at the same ratio, 1.51: $1,000 becomes
$1,507, and $10,000 becomes $15,072.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2018
$1.00
$1.51
$5.00
$7.54
$10.00
$15.07
$20.00
$30.14
$50.00
$75.36
$100
$151
$500
$754
$1,000
$1,507
$5,000
$7,536
$10,000
$15,072
$100,000
$150,724
$1,000,000
$1,507,245
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2018
Between 1999 and 2018, energy rose the most, up 106.3%, while apparel fell 4.3%, against 50.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.18%
$151
Energy
3.89%
$206
Medical care
3.53%
$193
Housing
2.43%
$158
Food
2.32%
$155
Transportation
2.01%
$146
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.99%
$146
Education & communication
1.60%
$135
Recreation
0.82%
$117
Apparel
-0.23%
$95.70
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 3.36% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1999–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$151
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $129 by
2008, on its way to $151 in 2018; 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 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1999 had the buying
power of $151; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1999 to 2018: $100 is worth $151 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2018/