$100 in 2009 is worth $117 in 2018,
because prices increased 17.0% over that period, an average of
1.76% a year.
$100 in 2009 has
the same buying power as
$117
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
17.0%
Average inflation rate
1.76% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$117
Price difference ($100 base)
$17.05
CPI in 2009
214.537
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 2009
-0.36%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 2009 → 2018
$117
$100 in 2018 → 2009
$85.44
What happened to prices between 2009 and 2018
Between 2009 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 214.537 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 17.0%, which works out to an average of
1.76% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2009 bought what
$0.85 buys in 2018: the 2009 dollar
lost 14.6% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 2018 at the same ratio, 1.17: $1,000 becomes
$1,170, and $10,000 becomes $11,705.
Amount in 2009
Value in 2018
$1.00
$1.17
$5.00
$5.85
$10.00
$11.70
$20.00
$23.41
$50.00
$58.52
$100
$117
$500
$585
$1,000
$1,170
$5,000
$5,852
$10,000
$11,705
$100,000
$117,046
$1,000,000
$1,170,460
Inflation by spending category, 2009–2018
Between 2009 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 29.0%, while recreation rose the least, up 4.2%, against 17.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2009
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2009 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.76%
$117
Medical care
2.87%
$129
Housing
1.96%
$119
Transportation
1.81%
$118
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.81%
$117
Food
1.70%
$116
Energy
1.46%
$114
Education & communication
0.79%
$107
Apparel
0.51%
$105
Recreation
0.46%
$104
Decade by decade: 2009 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 2010s, averaging 1.78% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (1.64% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2009–2018 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2009, at end
2009–2010
1.64%
1.6%
$102
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$117
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2009
$100 from 2009 had already become $109 by
2013, on its way to $117 in 2018; 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 the smallest rise was 0.1% in 2015.
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 2009 had the buying
power of $117; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 2009 to 2018: $100 is worth $117 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2009-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2009 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2009-to-2018/