$100 in 2004 is worth $125 in 2015,
because prices increased 25.5% over that period, an average of
2.08% a year.
$100 in 2004 has
the same buying power as
$125
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
25.5%
Average inflation rate
2.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$125
Price difference ($100 base)
$25.47
CPI in 2004
188.9
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 2004 → 2015
$125
$100 in 2015 → 2004
$79.70
What happened to prices between 2004 and 2015
Between 2004 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 188.9 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 25.5%, which works out to an average of
2.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2004 bought what
$0.80 buys in 2015: the 2004 dollar
lost 20.3% of its purchasing power over
these 11 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 2015 at the same ratio, 1.25: $1,000 becomes
$1,255, and $10,000 becomes $12,547.
Amount in 2004
Value in 2015
$1.00
$1.25
$5.00
$6.27
$10.00
$12.55
$20.00
$25.09
$50.00
$62.74
$100
$125
$500
$627
$1,000
$1,255
$5,000
$6,274
$10,000
$12,547
$100,000
$125,472
$1,000,000
$1,254,722
Inflation by spending category, 2004–2015
Between 2004 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 44.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 4.6%, against 25.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2004
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2004 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.08%
$125
Medical care
3.37%
$144
Energy
2.70%
$134
Food
2.61%
$133
Housing
2.10%
$126
Education & communication
1.96%
$124
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.92%
$123
Transportation
1.83%
$122
Recreation
0.60%
$107
Apparel
0.41%
$105
Decade by decade: 2004 to 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.42% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2004–2015 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2004, at end
2004–2010
2.42%
15.4%
$115
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$125
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2004
$100 from 2004 had already become $114 by
2009, on its way to $125 in 2015; 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 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 2004 had the buying
power of $125; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 2004 to 2015: $100 is worth $125 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2004-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2004 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2004-to-2015/