$100 in 2004 is worth $143 in 2021,
because prices increased 43.4% over that period, an average of
2.14% a year.
$100 in 2004 has
the same buying power as
$143
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
43.4%
Average inflation rate
2.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$143
Price difference ($100 base)
$43.45
CPI in 2004
188.9
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 2004 → 2021
$143
$100 in 2021 → 2004
$69.71
What happened to prices between 2004 and 2021
Between 2004 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 188.9 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 43.4%, which works out to an average of
2.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2004 bought what
$0.70 buys in 2021: the 2004 dollar
lost 30.3% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2021 at the same ratio, 1.43: $1,000 becomes
$1,434, and $10,000 becomes $14,345.
Amount in 2004
Value in 2021
$1.00
$1.43
$5.00
$7.17
$10.00
$14.34
$20.00
$28.69
$50.00
$71.72
$100
$143
$500
$717
$1,000
$1,434
$5,000
$7,172
$10,000
$14,345
$100,000
$143,446
$1,000,000
$1,434,463
Inflation by spending category, 2004–2021
Between 2004 and 2021, medical care rose the most, up 69.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 0.5%, against 43.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2004
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2004 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.14%
$143
Medical care
3.15%
$169
Energy
2.70%
$157
Food
2.38%
$149
Housing
2.34%
$148
Transportation
2.06%
$141
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.04%
$141
Education & communication
1.45%
$128
Recreation
0.84%
$115
Apparel
0.03%
$100
Decade by decade: 2004 to 2021
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 4.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2004–2021 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2004, at end
2004–2010
2.42%
15.4%
$115
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$137
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$143
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2004
$100 from 2004 had already become $122 by
2012, on its way to $143 in 2021; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 4.7% in 2021, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2021, prices rose 4.7% and $100 from 2004 had the buying
power of $143; the year's average CPI of 270.97 is the level
behind every 2021 figure on this page.
2021 was the year inflation stopped being background noise. Consumer prices
rose 4.7% on average for the year, and the pace kept building as the months
went on: by December, the 12-month rate had reached 7.0%, the highest since
1982. The proximate cause was a supply chain that could not keep up with a
fast-reopening economy. A global semiconductor shortage choked new car
production and pushed used vehicle prices up by more than a third, the
single largest line item in the year’s inflation math. Lumber, appliances,
and shipping capacity told versions of the same story: demand snapped back
faster than factories, ports, and truckers could handle it. Washington added
fuel in March with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, on top of the
relief already in the pipeline since 2020. For most of the year, the Federal
Reserve called the price surge “transitory,” a temporary reopening effect
expected to fade on its own, and held its policy rate near zero. By
November, with inflation still climbing, the Fed reversed course and began
winding down its bond purchases, the first step toward the rate hikes that
would follow in 2022. Gas averaged $3.01 a gallon for the year, up from
about $2.17 in 2020, while the federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
unchanged since 2009. In hindsight, 2021 reads as the hinge year: the point
where “transitory” inflation became the multi-year fight the Fed spent the
next two years trying to win.
MLA: “Inflation from 2004 to 2021: $100 is worth $143 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2004-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2004 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2004-to-2021/