$100 in 2011 is worth $112 in 2018,
because prices increased 11.6% over that period, an average of
1.58% a year.
$100 in 2011 has
the same buying power as
$112
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
11.6%
Average inflation rate
1.58% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$112
Price difference ($100 base)
$11.63
CPI in 2011
224.939
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 2011 → 2018
$112
$100 in 2018 → 2011
$89.58
What happened to prices between 2011 and 2018
Between 2011 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 224.939 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 11.6%, which works out to an average of
1.58% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2011 bought what
$0.90 buys in 2018: the 2011 dollar
lost 10.4% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 2018 at the same ratio, 1.12: $1,000 becomes
$1,116, and $10,000 becomes $11,163.
Amount in 2011
Value in 2018
$1.00
$1.12
$5.00
$5.58
$10.00
$11.16
$20.00
$22.33
$50.00
$55.82
$100
$112
$500
$558
$1,000
$1,116
$5,000
$5,582
$10,000
$11,163
$100,000
$111,633
$1,000,000
$1,116,334
Inflation by spending category, 2011–2018
Between 2011 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 21.1%, while energy fell 9.8%, against 11.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2011
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2011 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.58%
$112
Medical care
2.77%
$121
Housing
2.39%
$118
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.95%
$114
Food
1.54%
$111
Recreation
0.71%
$105
Education & communication
0.57%
$104
Apparel
0.41%
$103
Transportation
-0.11%
$99.20
Energy
-1.47%
$90.17
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2011
$100 from 2011 had already become $105 by
2014, on its way to $112 in 2018; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 2.4% in 2018, and the smallest rise was 0.1% in 2015.
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 2011 had the buying
power of $112; 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 2011 to 2018: $100 is worth $112 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2011-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2011 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2011-to-2018/