$100 in 2005 is worth $118 in 2012,
because prices increased 17.6% over that period, an average of
2.34% a year.
$100 in 2005 has
the same buying power as
$118
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
17.6%
Average inflation rate
2.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$118
Price difference ($100 base)
$17.56
CPI in 2005
195.3
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 2005 → 2012
$118
$100 in 2012 → 2005
$85.06
What happened to prices between 2005 and 2012
Between 2005 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 195.3 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 17.6%, which works out to an average of
2.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2005 bought what
$0.85 buys in 2012: the 2005 dollar
lost 14.9% of its purchasing power over
these 7 years.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
Every 2005 amount converts to 2012 at the same ratio, 1.18: $1,000 becomes
$1,176, and $10,000 becomes $11,756.
Amount in 2005
Value in 2012
$1.00
$1.18
$5.00
$5.88
$10.00
$11.76
$20.00
$23.51
$50.00
$58.78
$100
$118
$500
$588
$1,000
$1,176
$5,000
$5,878
$10,000
$11,756
$100,000
$117,560
$1,000,000
$1,175,597
Inflation by spending category, 2005–2012
Between 2005 and 2012, energy rose the most, up 38.9%, while recreation rose the least, up 4.8%, against 17.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2005
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2005 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.34%
$118
Energy
4.81%
$139
Medical care
3.63%
$128
Transportation
3.24%
$125
Food
2.95%
$123
Education & communication
2.36%
$118
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.94%
$114
Housing
1.86%
$114
Apparel
0.79%
$106
Recreation
0.68%
$105
Decade by decade: 2005 to 2012
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 2.61% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2005–2012 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2005, at end
2005–2010
2.23%
11.7%
$112
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$118
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2005
$100 from 2005 had already become $110 by
2008, on its way to $118 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 2005 had the buying
power of $118; 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 2005 to 2012: $100 is worth $118 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2005-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2005 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2005-to-2012/