$100 in 2005 is worth $139 in 2021,
because prices increased 38.7% over that period, an average of
2.07% a year.
$100 in 2005 has
the same buying power as
$139
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
38.7%
Average inflation rate
2.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$139
Price difference ($100 base)
$38.75
CPI in 2005
195.3
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 2005 → 2021
$139
$100 in 2021 → 2005
$72.07
What happened to prices between 2005 and 2021
Between 2005 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 195.3 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 38.7%, which works out to an average of
2.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2005 bought what
$0.72 buys in 2021: the 2005 dollar
lost 27.9% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 2021 at the same ratio, 1.39: $1,000 becomes
$1,387, and $10,000 becomes $13,875.
Amount in 2005
Value in 2021
$1.00
$1.39
$5.00
$6.94
$10.00
$13.87
$20.00
$27.75
$50.00
$69.37
$100
$139
$500
$694
$1,000
$1,387
$5,000
$6,937
$10,000
$13,875
$100,000
$138,746
$1,000,000
$1,387,455
Inflation by spending category, 2005–2021
Between 2005 and 2021, medical care rose the most, up 62.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 1.2%, against 38.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2005
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2005 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.07%
$139
Medical care
3.08%
$163
Food
2.38%
$146
Housing
2.28%
$143
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.03%
$138
Energy
1.87%
$135
Transportation
1.78%
$133
Education & communication
1.43%
$125
Recreation
0.85%
$114
Apparel
0.08%
$101
Decade by decade: 2005 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 2005–2021 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2005, at end
2005–2010
2.23%
11.7%
$112
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$133
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$139
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2005
$100 from 2005 had already become $119 by
2013, on its way to $139 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 2005 had the buying
power of $139; 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 2005 to 2021: $100 is worth $139 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2005-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2005 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2005-to-2021/