$100 in 2008 is worth $120 in 2020,
because prices increased 20.2% over that period, an average of
1.55% a year.
$100 in 2008 has
the same buying power as
$120
in 2020
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
20.2%
Average inflation rate
1.55% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$120
Price difference ($100 base)
$20.21
CPI in 2008
215.303
CPI in 2020
258.811
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
Inflation in 2020
1.23%
$100 in 2008 → 2020
$120
$100 in 2020 → 2008
$83.19
What happened to prices between 2008 and 2020
Between 2008 and 2020, the Consumer Price Index went from 215.303 to 258.811.
Cumulatively, prices increased 20.2%, which works out to an average of
1.55% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2008 bought what
$0.83 buys in 2020: the 2008 dollar
lost 16.8% of its purchasing power over
these 12 years.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
Every 2008 amount converts to 2020 at the same ratio, 1.20: $1,000 becomes
$1,202, and $10,000 becomes $12,021.
Amount in 2008
Value in 2020
$1.00
$1.20
$5.00
$6.01
$10.00
$12.02
$20.00
$24.04
$50.00
$60.10
$100
$120
$500
$601
$1,000
$1,202
$5,000
$6,010
$10,000
$12,021
$100,000
$120,208
$1,000,000
$1,202,078
Inflation by spending category, 2008–2020
Between 2008 and 2020, medical care rose the most, up 42.5%, while energy fell 16.8%, against 20.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2008
spending costs in 2020, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2008 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.55%
$120
Medical care
3.00%
$143
Housing
1.92%
$126
Food
1.86%
$125
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.82%
$124
Education & communication
1.06%
$113
Recreation
0.64%
$108
Transportation
0.24%
$103
Apparel
-0.06%
$99.30
Energy
-1.52%
$83.22
Decade by decade: 2008 to 2020
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 1.73% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (0.64% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2008–2020 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2008, at end
2008–2010
0.64%
1.3%
$101
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$120
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2008
$100 from 2008 had already become $110 by
2014, on its way to $120 in 2020; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.2% in 2011, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2020, prices rose 1.2% and $100 from 2008 had the buying
power of $120; 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 2008 to 2020: $100 is worth $120 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2008-to-2020/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2008 to 2020. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2008-to-2020/