Buying power of $10,000 in 1998

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for $10,000 in 1998 (price index tracking began in 1635).

For example, if you started with $10,000, you would need to end with $15,684.51 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When $10,000 is equivalent to $15,684.51 over time, that means that the "real value" of a single U.S. dollar decreases over time. In other words, a dollar will pay for fewer items at the store.

This effect explains how inflation erodes the value of a dollar over time. By calculating the value in 1998 dollars, the chart below shows how $10,000 buys less over the past 21 years.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, each of these USD amounts below is equal in terms of what it could buy at the time:

Inflation by City

Inflation can vary widely by city, even within the United States. Here's how some cities fared in 1998 to 2019 (figures shown are purchasing power equivalents of $10,000):

• San Diego, California: 4.22% average rate, $10,000 → $23,817.89, cumulative change of 138.18%
• San Francisco, California: 2.79% average rate, $10,000 → $17,827.55, cumulative change of 78.28%
• Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida: 2.50% average rate, $10,000 → $16,805.25, cumulative change of 68.05%
• Tampa, Florida: 2.44% average rate, $10,000 → $16,591.56, cumulative change of 65.92%
• Seattle, Washington: 2.43% average rate, $10,000 → $16,570.77, cumulative change of 65.71%
• Denver, Colorado: 2.41% average rate, $10,000 → $16,491.60, cumulative change of 64.92%
• Boston, Massachusetts: 2.37% average rate, $10,000 → $16,367.50, cumulative change of 63.68%
• New York: 2.27% average rate, $10,000 → $16,022.51, cumulative change of 60.23%
• Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota: 2.20% average rate, $10,000 → $15,799.49, cumulative change of 57.99%
• Houston, Texas: 2.14% average rate, $10,000 → $15,586.92, cumulative change of 55.87%
• Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas: 2.10% average rate, $10,000 → $15,472.53, cumulative change of 54.73%
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 2.03% average rate, $10,000 → $15,252.00, cumulative change of 52.52%
• Atlanta, Georgia: 1.98% average rate, $10,000 → $15,101.78, cumulative change of 51.02%
• St Louis, Missouri: 1.92% average rate, $10,000 → $14,914.28, cumulative change of 49.14%
• Detroit, Michigan: 1.86% average rate, $10,000 → $14,737.21, cumulative change of 47.37%
• Chicago, Illinois: 1.82% average rate, $10,000 → $14,618.49, cumulative change of 46.18%

San Diego, California experienced the highest rate of inflation during the 21 years between 1998 and 2019 (4.22%).

Chicago, Illinois experienced the lowest rate of inflation during the 21 years between 1998 and 2019 (1.82%).

Note that some locations showing 0% inflation may have not yet reported latest data.

Inflation by Country

Inflation can also vary widely by country. For comparison, in the UK £10,000.00 in 1998 would be equivalent to £17,451.32 in 2019, an absolute change of £7,451.32 and a cumulative change of 74.51%.

In Canada, CA$10,000.00 in 1998 would be equivalent to CA$14,611.17 in 2019, an absolute change of CA$4,611.17 and a cumulative change of 46.11%.

Compare these numbers to the US's overall absolute change of $5,684.51 and total percent change of 56.85%.

Inflation by Spending Category

CPI is the weighted combination of many categories of spending that are tracked by the government. This chart shows the average rate of inflation for select CPI categories between 1998 and 2019.

Compare these values to the overall average of 2.17% per year:

The graph below compares inflation in categories of goods over time. Click on a category such as "Food" to toggle it on or off:

For all these visualizations, it's important to note that not all categories may have been tracked since 1998. This table and charts use the earliest available data for each category.

How to Calculate Inflation Rate for $10,000, 1998 to 2019

This inflation calculator uses the following inflation rate formula:

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.S. CPI was 163 in the year 1998 and 255.6575 in 2019:

$10,000 in 1998 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as $15,684.51 in 2019.

To get the total inflation rate for the 21 years between 1998 and 2019, we use the following formula:

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

Alternate Measurements of Inflation

The above data describe the CPI for all items. Also of note is the Core CPI, which measures inflation for all items except for the more volatile categories of food and energy. Core inflation averaged 2.01% per year between 1998 and 2019 (vs all-CPI inflation of 2.17%), for an inflation total of 51.81%.

When using the core inflation measurement, $10,000 in 1998 is equivalent in buying power to $15,180.75 in 2019, a difference of $5,180.75. Recall that for All Items, the converted amount is $15,684.51 with a difference of $5,684.51.

In 1998, core inflation was 2.29%.

Comparison to S&P 500 Index

The average inflation rate of 2.17% has a compounding effect between 1998 and 2019. As noted above, this yearly inflation rate compounds to produce an overall price difference of 56.85% over 21 years.

To help put this inflation into perspective, if we had invested $10,000 in the S&P 500 index in 1998, our investment would be nominally worth approximately $49,845.04 in 2019. This is a return on investment of 398.45%, with an absolute return of $39,845.04 on top of the original $10,000.

These numbers are not inflation adjusted, so they are considered nominal. In order to evaluate the real return on our investment, we must calculate the return with inflation taken into account.

The compounding effect of inflation would account for 36.24% of returns ($18,065.25) during this period. This means the inflation-adjusted real return of our $10,000 investment is $21,779.79. You may also want to account for capital gains tax, which would take your real return down to around $18,513 for most people.

Information displayed above may differ slightly from other S&P 500 calculators. Minor discrepancies can occur because we use the latest CPI data for inflation, annualized inflation numbers for previous years, and we compute S&P price and dividends from January of 1998 to latest available data for 2019 using average monthly close price.

For more details on the S&P 500 between 1998 and 2019, see the stock market returns calculator.

News headlines from 1998

Politics and news often influence economic performance. Here's what was happening at the time:

• Osama Bin Laden declares a Jihad against Jews and Crusaders.
• The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland.
• President of the US Bill Clinton admits that he had an "improper physical relationship" with an intern and then denied it in the same day. The event has come to be known as the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Data Source & Citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index (CPI), established in 1913. Inflation data from 1665 to 1912 is sourced from a historical study conducted by political science professor Robert Sahr at Oregon State University.

» Read more about inflation and investment.