$100 in 2006 is worth $128 in 2020,
because prices increased 28.4% over that period, an average of
1.80% a year.
$100 in 2006 has
the same buying power as
$128
in 2020
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
28.4%
Average inflation rate
1.80% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$128
Price difference ($100 base)
$28.38
CPI in 2006
201.6
CPI in 2020
258.811
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
Inflation in 2020
1.23%
$100 in 2006 → 2020
$128
$100 in 2020 → 2006
$77.89
What happened to prices between 2006 and 2020
Between 2006 and 2020, the Consumer Price Index went from 201.6 to 258.811.
Cumulatively, prices increased 28.4%, which works out to an average of
1.80% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2006 bought what
$0.78 buys in 2020: the 2006 dollar
lost 22.1% of its purchasing power over
these 14 years.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
Every 2006 amount converts to 2020 at the same ratio, 1.28: $1,000 becomes
$1,284, and $10,000 becomes $12,838.
Amount in 2006
Value in 2020
$1.00
$1.28
$5.00
$6.42
$10.00
$12.84
$20.00
$25.68
$50.00
$64.19
$100
$128
$500
$642
$1,000
$1,284
$5,000
$6,419
$10,000
$12,838
$100,000
$128,378
$1,000,000
$1,283,785
Inflation by spending category, 2006–2020
Between 2006 and 2020, medical care rose the most, up 54.3%, while apparel fell 1.2%, against 28.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2006
spending costs in 2020, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2006 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.80%
$128
Medical care
3.15%
$154
Food
2.27%
$137
Housing
2.10%
$134
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.89%
$130
Education & communication
1.32%
$120
Transportation
0.77%
$111
Recreation
0.70%
$110
Energy
0.00%
$100
Apparel
-0.09%
$98.81
Decade by decade: 2006 to 2020
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 1.98% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2006–2020 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2006, at end
2006–2010
1.98%
8.2%
$108
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$128
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2006
$100 from 2006 had already become $116 by
2013, on its way to $128 in 2020; 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 2020, prices rose 1.2% and $100 from 2006 had the buying
power of $128; the year's average CPI of 258.811 is the level
behind every 2020 figure on this page.
2020 was the year the pandemic rewired the price data without triggering the
inflation spike that followed it. Consumer prices rose just 1.2% for the
year, the mildest pace since 2015, as COVID-19 lockdowns emptied roads,
closed airports, and crushed energy demand. Oil told the starkest story: on
April 20, U.S. crude futures fell to about negative $37 a barrel, the first
negative settlement in the market’s history, as storage capacity ran out and no one
wanted the physical barrels. Gasoline followed it down, falling to about
$1.80 a gallon nationally that month before recovering to average $2.17 for
the year. Grocery prices moved the other way: pantry stocking and
meatpacking-plant disruptions pushed food-at-home costs up faster than
usual, a rare case of food and energy pulling the index in opposite
directions. Washington answered with the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, signed
March 27, which sent $1,200 payments to most adults and added $600 a week
to unemployment benefits as states ordered widespread business closures.
The Federal Reserve cut its policy rate to near zero in two emergency moves
that same month and pledged to buy Treasury and mortgage bonds “in the
amounts needed” to keep credit markets working, an open-ended commitment
beyond even its 2008 response. None of it showed up in the CPI yet: the
stimulus, the supply shocks, and the reopening whiplash that followed would
build into the fastest inflation in four decades over the next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 2006 to 2020: $100 is worth $128 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2006-to-2020/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2006 to 2020. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2006-to-2020/