$100 in 2012 is worth $111 in 2019,
because prices increased 11.4% over that period, an average of
1.55% a year.
$100 in 2012 has
the same buying power as
$111
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
11.4%
Average inflation rate
1.55% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$111
Price difference ($100 base)
$11.35
CPI in 2012
229.594
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 2012 → 2019
$111
$100 in 2019 → 2012
$89.81
What happened to prices between 2012 and 2019
Between 2012 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 229.594 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 11.4%, which works out to an average of
1.55% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2012 bought what
$0.90 buys in 2019: the 2012 dollar
lost 10.2% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 2019 at the same ratio, 1.11: $1,000 becomes
$1,114, and $10,000 becomes $11,135.
Amount in 2012
Value in 2019
$1.00
$1.11
$5.00
$5.57
$10.00
$11.14
$20.00
$22.27
$50.00
$55.68
$100
$111
$500
$557
$1,000
$1,114
$5,000
$5,568
$10,000
$11,135
$100,000
$111,352
$1,000,000
$1,113,518
Inflation by spending category, 2012–2019
Between 2012 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 20.1%, while energy fell 12.5%, against 11.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2012
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2012 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.55%
$111
Medical care
2.65%
$120
Housing
2.57%
$119
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.96%
$115
Food
1.44%
$110
Recreation
0.72%
$105
Education & communication
0.42%
$103
Apparel
-0.25%
$98.25
Transportation
-0.48%
$96.66
Energy
-1.89%
$87.49
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2012
$100 from 2012 had already become $103 by
2015, on its way to $111 in 2019; 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 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 2012 had the buying
power of $111; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 2012 to 2019: $100 is worth $111 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2012-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2012 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2012-to-2019/