$100 in 2012 is worth $107 in 2017,
because prices increased 6.8% over that period, an average of
1.32% a year.
$100 in 2012 has
the same buying power as
$107
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
6.8%
Average inflation rate
1.32% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$107
Price difference ($100 base)
$6.76
CPI in 2012
229.594
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 2012 → 2017
$107
$100 in 2017 → 2012
$93.67
What happened to prices between 2012 and 2017
Between 2012 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 229.594 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 6.8%, which works out to an average of
1.32% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2012 bought what
$0.94 buys in 2017: the 2012 dollar
lost 6.3% of its purchasing power over
these 5 years.
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.
Every 2012 amount converts to 2017 at the same ratio, 1.07: $1,000 becomes
$1,068, and $10,000 becomes $10,676.
Amount in 2012
Value in 2017
$1.00
$1.07
$5.00
$5.34
$10.00
$10.68
$20.00
$21.35
$50.00
$53.38
$100
$107
$500
$534
$1,000
$1,068
$5,000
$5,338
$10,000
$10,676
$100,000
$106,762
$1,000,000
$1,067,624
Inflation by spending category, 2012–2017
Between 2012 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 14.6%, while energy fell 16.9%, against 6.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2012
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2012 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.32%
$107
Medical care
2.76%
$115
Housing
2.44%
$113
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.88%
$110
Food
1.36%
$107
Recreation
0.65%
$103
Education & communication
0.39%
$102
Apparel
-0.10%
$99.48
Transportation
-1.50%
$92.74
Energy
-3.63%
$83.12
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2012
$100 from 2012 had already become $103 by
2014, on its way to $107 in 2017; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 2.1% in 2017, and the smallest rise was 0.1% in 2015.
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 2012 had the buying
power of $107; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 2012 to 2017: $100 is worth $107 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2012-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2012 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2012-to-2017/