$100 in 2011 is worth $102 in 2012,
because prices increased 2.1% over that period, an average of
2.07% a year.
$100 in 2011 has
the same buying power as
$102
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
2.1%
Average inflation rate
2.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$102
Price difference ($100 base)
$2.07
CPI in 2011
224.939
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 2011 → 2012
$102
$100 in 2012 → 2011
$97.97
What happened to prices between 2011 and 2012
Between 2011 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 224.939 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 2.1%, which works out to an average of
2.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2011 bought what
$0.98 buys in 2012: the 2011 dollar
lost 2.0% of its purchasing power over
these 1 years.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
Every 2011 amount converts to 2012 at the same ratio, 1.02: $1,000 becomes
$1,021, and $10,000 becomes $10,207.
Amount in 2011
Value in 2012
$1.00
$1.02
$5.00
$5.10
$10.00
$10.21
$20.00
$20.41
$50.00
$51.03
$100
$102
$500
$510
$1,000
$1,021
$5,000
$5,103
$10,000
$10,207
$100,000
$102,069
$1,000,000
$1,020,694
Inflation by spending category, 2011–2012
Between 2011 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 3.7%, while energy rose the least, up 0.9%, against 2.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2011
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2011 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.07%
$102
Medical care
3.66%
$104
Apparel
3.40%
$103
Food
2.60%
$103
Transportation
2.34%
$102
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.11%
$102
Education & communication
1.81%
$102
Housing
1.65%
$102
Recreation
1.19%
$101
Energy
0.89%
$101
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2011
$100 from 2011grew to $102 by 2012; each row
shows the CPI, that year's inflation rate, and the running value.
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 2011 had the buying
power of $102; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 2011 to 2012: $100 is worth $102 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2011-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2011 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2011-to-2012/