$100 in 1999 is worth $153 in 2019,
because prices increased 53.5% over that period, an average of
2.16% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$153
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
53.5%
Average inflation rate
2.16% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$153
Price difference ($100 base)
$53.46
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1999 → 2019
$153
$100 in 2019 → 1999
$65.17
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2019
Between 1999 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 53.5%, which works out to an average of
2.16% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.65 buys in 2019: the 1999 dollar
lost 34.8% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 2019 at the same ratio, 1.53: $1,000 becomes
$1,535, and $10,000 becomes $15,346.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2019
$1.00
$1.53
$5.00
$7.67
$10.00
$15.35
$20.00
$30.69
$50.00
$76.73
$100
$153
$500
$767
$1,000
$1,535
$5,000
$7,673
$10,000
$15,346
$100,000
$153,456
$1,000,000
$1,534,556
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2019
Between 1999 and 2019, energy rose the most, up 102.0%, while apparel fell 5.5%, against 53.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.16%
$153
Energy
3.58%
$202
Medical care
3.50%
$199
Housing
2.45%
$162
Food
2.29%
$157
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.00%
$149
Transportation
1.89%
$145
Education & communication
1.56%
$136
Recreation
0.84%
$118
Apparel
-0.28%
$94.48
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2019
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 1999–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$153
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $129 by
2009, on its way to $153 in 2019; 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 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1999 had the buying
power of $153; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1999 to 2019: $100 is worth $153 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2019/