$100 in 2001 is worth $146 in 2020,
because prices increased 46.1% over that period, an average of
2.02% a year.
$100 in 2001 has
the same buying power as
$146
in 2020
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
46.1%
Average inflation rate
2.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$146
Price difference ($100 base)
$46.14
CPI in 2001
177.1
CPI in 2020
258.811
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
Inflation in 2020
1.23%
$100 in 2001 → 2020
$146
$100 in 2020 → 2001
$68.43
What happened to prices between 2001 and 2020
Between 2001 and 2020, the Consumer Price Index went from 177.1 to 258.811.
Cumulatively, prices increased 46.1%, which works out to an average of
2.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2001 bought what
$0.68 buys in 2020: the 2001 dollar
lost 31.6% of its purchasing power over
these 19 years.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
Every 2001 amount converts to 2020 at the same ratio, 1.46: $1,000 becomes
$1,461, and $10,000 becomes $14,614.
Amount in 2001
Value in 2020
$1.00
$1.46
$5.00
$7.31
$10.00
$14.61
$20.00
$29.23
$50.00
$73.07
$100
$146
$500
$731
$1,000
$1,461
$5,000
$7,307
$10,000
$14,614
$100,000
$146,138
$1,000,000
$1,461,383
Inflation by spending category, 2001–2020
Between 2001 and 2020, medical care rose the most, up 90.2%, while apparel fell 7.2%, against 46.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2001
spending costs in 2020, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2001 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.02%
$146
Medical care
3.44%
$190
Food
2.31%
$154
Housing
2.30%
$154
Energy
2.24%
$152
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.93%
$144
Education & communication
1.53%
$133
Transportation
1.41%
$130
Recreation
0.81%
$117
Apparel
-0.39%
$92.76
Decade by decade: 2001 to 2020
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.34% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2001–2020 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2001, at end
2001–2010
2.34%
23.1%
$123
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$146
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2001
$100 from 2001 had already become $123 by
2010, on its way to $146 in 2020; 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 2020, prices rose 1.2% and $100 from 2001 had the buying
power of $146; the year's average CPI of 258.811 is the level
behind every 2020 figure on this page.
2020 was the year the pandemic rewired the price data without triggering the
inflation spike that followed it. Consumer prices rose just 1.2% for the
year, the mildest pace since 2015, as COVID-19 lockdowns emptied roads,
closed airports, and crushed energy demand. Oil told the starkest story: on
April 20, U.S. crude futures fell to about negative $37 a barrel, the first
negative settlement in the market’s history, as storage capacity ran out and no one
wanted the physical barrels. Gasoline followed it down, falling to about
$1.80 a gallon nationally that month before recovering to average $2.17 for
the year. Grocery prices moved the other way: pantry stocking and
meatpacking-plant disruptions pushed food-at-home costs up faster than
usual, a rare case of food and energy pulling the index in opposite
directions. Washington answered with the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, signed
March 27, which sent $1,200 payments to most adults and added $600 a week
to unemployment benefits as states ordered widespread business closures.
The Federal Reserve cut its policy rate to near zero in two emergency moves
that same month and pledged to buy Treasury and mortgage bonds “in the
amounts needed” to keep credit markets working, an open-ended commitment
beyond even its 2008 response. None of it showed up in the CPI yet: the
stimulus, the supply shocks, and the reopening whiplash that followed would
build into the fastest inflation in four decades over the next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 2001 to 2020: $100 is worth $146 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2001-to-2020/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2001 to 2020. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2001-to-2020/