Value of a dollar · 1997
Value of a Dollar in 1997
$1 in 1997 had the same buying power as $2.01 in 2025. Prices rose 101% over those 28 years, an average of 2.52% a year.
- $100 from 1997 $201 in 2025 dollars
- Prices since +101% 2.01× the 1997 level
- Average inflation 2.52% a year, 1997–2025
- $100 in 2025 $49.85 in 1997 dollars
1997 dollars in 2025 money
| In 1997 | Worth in 2025 |
|---|---|
| $1 | $2.01 |
| $10 | $20.06 |
| $100 | $201 |
| $1,000 | $2,006 |
| $10,000 | $20,058 |
For a specific amount or a different pair of years, use the inflation calculator.
How $100 from 1997 kept pace
The amount needed in each later year to buy what $100 bought in 1997:
Prices had doubled by 2025, 28 years after 1997. The steepest single year along the way was 2022, when inflation reached 8.00%. Read what happened in 2022.
The federal minimum wage in 1997
The federal minimum wage was $4.88 an hour in 1997. In 2025 dollars that is about $9.79, compared with the actual $7.25 in 2025. Adjusted for inflation, the federal floor bought about 26% less in 2025 than it did in 1997. See today’s rates on minimum wage by state.
Borrowing in 1997
A 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 7.6% in 1997, against 7.4% this week. See every year on historical mortgage rates.
Value of a dollar in 1997 — FAQ
How much is $1 from 1997 worth today?
$1 in 1997 buys about as much as $2.01 did in 2025, the latest full year of Consumer Price Index data. $100 from 1997 equals about $201.
How much have prices gone up since 1997?
Consumer prices rose about 101% from 1997 to 2025, so things cost about 2.01 times as much. That works out to an average of 2.52% a year.
What would $100 in 2025 have been worth in 1997?
$100 in 2025 had the buying power of about $49.85 in 1997.
When did prices double after 1997?
By 2025, 28 years later, the price level was more than twice what it was in 1997, so a dollar saved in 1997 bought less than half as much.
Based on annual average Consumer Price Index levels. 2025 is the latest full year in the data, so “today” on this page means 2025 dollars.
Data: World Bank, World Development Indicators, via APIVerve. Our tables, charts and text are licensed CC BY-NC 4.0: share and adapt them for non-commercial use as long as you credit us. For commercial use or bulk data, use the APIVerve API. See the data terms. Cite as: Digest Your Finances, “Value of a Dollar by Year”, https://digestyourfinances.com/studies/value-of-a-dollar/1997/ — based on World Bank, World Development Indicators. CC BY-NC 4.0.
