$100 in 2004 is worth $122 in 2012,
because prices increased 21.5% over that period, an average of
2.47% a year.
$100 in 2004 has
the same buying power as
$122
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
21.5%
Average inflation rate
2.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$122
Price difference ($100 base)
$21.54
CPI in 2004
188.9
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 2004 → 2012
$122
$100 in 2012 → 2004
$82.28
What happened to prices between 2004 and 2012
Between 2004 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 188.9 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 21.5%, which works out to an average of
2.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2004 bought what
$0.82 buys in 2012: the 2004 dollar
lost 17.7% of its purchasing power over
these 8 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
Every 2004 amount converts to 2012 at the same ratio, 1.22: $1,000 becomes
$1,215, and $10,000 becomes $12,154.
Amount in 2004
Value in 2012
$1.00
$1.22
$5.00
$6.08
$10.00
$12.15
$20.00
$24.31
$50.00
$60.77
$100
$122
$500
$608
$1,000
$1,215
$5,000
$6,077
$10,000
$12,154
$100,000
$121,543
$1,000,000
$1,215,426
Inflation by spending category, 2004–2012
Between 2004 and 2012, energy rose the most, up 62.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 4.9%, against 21.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2004
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2004 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.47%
$122
Energy
6.26%
$163
Medical care
3.71%
$134
Transportation
3.65%
$133
Food
2.89%
$126
Education & communication
2.30%
$120
Housing
2.04%
$118
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.97%
$117
Recreation
0.69%
$106
Apparel
0.60%
$105
Decade by decade: 2004 to 2012
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 2.61% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.42% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2004–2012 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2004, at end
2004–2010
2.42%
15.4%
$115
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$122
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2004
$100 from 2004 had already become $114 by
2008, on its way to $122 in 2012; 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 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 2004 had the buying
power of $122; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 2004 to 2012: $100 is worth $122 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2004-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2004 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2004-to-2012/