$100 in 1999 is worth $163 in 2021,
because prices increased 62.6% over that period, an average of
2.24% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$163
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
62.6%
Average inflation rate
2.24% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$163
Price difference ($100 base)
$62.65
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 1999 → 2021
$163
$100 in 2021 → 1999
$61.48
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2021
Between 1999 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 62.6%, which works out to an average of
2.24% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.61 buys in 2021: the 1999 dollar
lost 38.5% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 2021 at the same ratio, 1.63: $1,000 becomes
$1,626, and $10,000 becomes $16,265.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2021
$1.00
$1.63
$5.00
$8.13
$10.00
$16.26
$20.00
$32.53
$50.00
$81.32
$100
$163
$500
$813
$1,000
$1,626
$5,000
$8,132
$10,000
$16,265
$100,000
$162,647
$1,000,000
$1,626,471
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2021
Between 1999 and 2021, energy rose the most, up 123.6%, while apparel fell 7.8%, against 62.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.24%
$163
Energy
3.72%
$224
Medical care
3.42%
$210
Housing
2.48%
$171
Food
2.42%
$169
Transportation
2.15%
$160
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.06%
$157
Education & communication
1.57%
$141
Recreation
0.94%
$123
Apparel
-0.37%
$92.15
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2021
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 4.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1999–2021 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$155
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$163
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $131 by
2010, on its way to $163 in 2021; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 4.7% in 2021, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2021, prices rose 4.7% and $100 from 1999 had the buying
power of $163; the year's average CPI of 270.97 is the level
behind every 2021 figure on this page.
2021 was the year inflation stopped being background noise. Consumer prices
rose 4.7% on average for the year, and the pace kept building as the months
went on: by December, the 12-month rate had reached 7.0%, the highest since
1982. The proximate cause was a supply chain that could not keep up with a
fast-reopening economy. A global semiconductor shortage choked new car
production and pushed used vehicle prices up by more than a third, the
single largest line item in the year’s inflation math. Lumber, appliances,
and shipping capacity told versions of the same story: demand snapped back
faster than factories, ports, and truckers could handle it. Washington added
fuel in March with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, on top of the
relief already in the pipeline since 2020. For most of the year, the Federal
Reserve called the price surge “transitory,” a temporary reopening effect
expected to fade on its own, and held its policy rate near zero. By
November, with inflation still climbing, the Fed reversed course and began
winding down its bond purchases, the first step toward the rate hikes that
would follow in 2022. Gas averaged $3.01 a gallon for the year, up from
about $2.17 in 2020, while the federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
unchanged since 2009. In hindsight, 2021 reads as the hinge year: the point
where “transitory” inflation became the multi-year fight the Fed spent the
next two years trying to win.
MLA: “Inflation from 1999 to 2021: $100 is worth $163 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2021/