$100 in 2017 is worth $104 in 2019,
because prices increased 4.3% over that period, an average of
2.13% a year.
$100 in 2017 has
the same buying power as
$104
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
4.3%
Average inflation rate
2.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$104
Price difference ($100 base)
$4.30
CPI in 2017
245.12
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 2017 → 2019
$104
$100 in 2019 → 2017
$95.88
What happened to prices between 2017 and 2019
Between 2017 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 245.12 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 4.3%, which works out to an average of
2.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2017 bought what
$0.96 buys in 2019: the 2017 dollar
lost 4.1% of its purchasing power over
these 2 years.
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.
Every 2017 amount converts to 2019 at the same ratio, 1.04: $1,000 becomes
$1,043, and $10,000 becomes $10,430.
Amount in 2017
Value in 2019
$1.00
$1.04
$5.00
$5.21
$10.00
$10.43
$20.00
$20.86
$50.00
$52.15
$100
$104
$500
$521
$1,000
$1,043
$5,000
$5,215
$10,000
$10,430
$100,000
$104,299
$1,000,000
$1,042,987
Inflation by spending category, 2017–2019
Between 2017 and 2019, housing rose the most, up 5.9%, while apparel fell 1.2%, against 4.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2017
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2017 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.13%
$104
Housing
2.89%
$106
Energy
2.60%
$105
Medical care
2.40%
$105
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.17%
$104
Transportation
2.09%
$104
Food
1.64%
$103
Recreation
0.89%
$102
Education & communication
0.47%
$101
Apparel
-0.62%
$98.76
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2017
$100 from 2017 had already become $102 by
2018, on its way to $104 in 2019; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 2.4% in 2018, and the smallest rise was 1.8% in 2019.
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 2017 had the buying
power of $104; 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 2017 to 2019: $100 is worth $104 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2017-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2017 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2017-to-2019/