$100 in 2009 is worth $102 in 2010,
because prices increased 1.6% over that period, an average of
1.64% a year.
$100 in 2009 has
the same buying power as
$102
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1.6%
Average inflation rate
1.64% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$102
Price difference ($100 base)
$1.64
CPI in 2009
214.537
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 2009
-0.36%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 2009 → 2010
$102
$100 in 2010 → 2009
$98.39
What happened to prices between 2009 and 2010
Between 2009 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 214.537 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1.6%, which works out to an average of
1.64% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2009 bought what
$0.98 buys in 2010: the 2009 dollar
lost 1.6% of its purchasing power over
these 1 years.
2009 is the rarest kind of year in the modern price data: one where the cost
of living went down. The CPI fell 0.4%, the first full-year deflation
since 1955, as the Great Recession hollowed out demand and oil unwound from
its $147 spike the summer before. Gasoline that had cost over $4 a gallon in
July 2008 averaged $2.35 in 2009, and that energy collapse dragged the
12-month inflation rate to −2.1% by July, the deepest reading since 1950.
Policymakers treated falling prices not as relief but as a warning: deflation
raises the real weight of debt precisely when households are drowning in it,
which is why the Federal Reserve pinned interest rates near zero, began buying
bonds by the hundreds of billions, and Washington passed a $787 billion
stimulus. The medicine took: prices stabilized within a year, and 2009 remains
the textbook case of why central banks fear deflation more than moderate
inflation.
Every 2009 amount converts to 2010 at the same ratio, 1.02: $1,000 becomes
$1,016, and $10,000 becomes $10,164.
Amount in 2009
Value in 2010
$1.00
$1.02
$5.00
$5.08
$10.00
$10.16
$20.00
$20.33
$50.00
$50.82
$100
$102
$500
$508
$1,000
$1,016
$5,000
$5,082
$10,000
$10,164
$100,000
$101,640
$1,000,000
$1,016,403
Inflation by spending category, 2009–2010
Between 2009 and 2010, energy rose the most, up 9.5%, while recreation fell 0.8%, against 1.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2009
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2009 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.64%
$102
Energy
9.49%
$109
Transportation
7.89%
$108
Medical care
3.41%
$103
Education & communication
1.98%
$102
Core (all items less food & energy)
0.96%
$101
Food
0.77%
$101
Housing
-0.37%
$99.63
Apparel
-0.48%
$99.52
Recreation
-0.84%
$99.16
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2009
$100 from 2009grew to $102 by 2010; each row
shows the CPI, that year's inflation rate, and the running value.
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 2009 had the buying
power of $102; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 2009 to 2010: $100 is worth $102 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2009-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2009 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2009-to-2010/