$100 in 2014 is worth $114 in 2021,
because prices increased 14.5% over that period, an average of
1.95% a year.
$100 in 2014 has
the same buying power as
$114
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
14.5%
Average inflation rate
1.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$114
Price difference ($100 base)
$14.46
CPI in 2014
236.736
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 2014 → 2021
$114
$100 in 2021 → 2014
$87.37
What happened to prices between 2014 and 2021
Between 2014 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 236.736 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 14.5%, which works out to an average of
1.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2014 bought what
$0.87 buys in 2021: the 2014 dollar
lost 12.6% of its purchasing power over
these 7 years.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
Every 2014 amount converts to 2021 at the same ratio, 1.14: $1,000 becomes
$1,145, and $10,000 becomes $11,446.
Amount in 2014
Value in 2021
$1.00
$1.14
$5.00
$5.72
$10.00
$11.45
$20.00
$22.89
$50.00
$57.23
$100
$114
$500
$572
$1,000
$1,145
$5,000
$5,723
$10,000
$11,446
$100,000
$114,461
$1,000,000
$1,144,608
Inflation by spending category, 2014–2021
Between 2014 and 2021, medical care rose the most, up 20.7%, while apparel fell 5.1%, against 14.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2014
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2014 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.95%
$114
Medical care
2.72%
$121
Housing
2.68%
$120
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.21%
$117
Food
1.94%
$114
Recreation
1.15%
$108
Transportation
0.95%
$107
Education & communication
0.52%
$104
Energy
-0.31%
$97.84
Apparel
-0.75%
$94.89
Decade by decade: 2014 to 2021
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 4.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.50% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2014–2021 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2014, at end
2014–2020
1.50%
9.3%
$109
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$114
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2014
$100 from 2014 had already become $104 by
2017, on its way to $114 in 2021; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 4.7% in 2021, and the smallest rise was 0.1% in 2015.
In 2021, prices rose 4.7% and $100 from 2014 had the buying
power of $114; the year's average CPI of 270.97 is the level
behind every 2021 figure on this page.
2021 was the year inflation stopped being background noise. Consumer prices
rose 4.7% on average for the year, and the pace kept building as the months
went on: by December, the 12-month rate had reached 7.0%, the highest since
1982. The proximate cause was a supply chain that could not keep up with a
fast-reopening economy. A global semiconductor shortage choked new car
production and pushed used vehicle prices up by more than a third, the
single largest line item in the year’s inflation math. Lumber, appliances,
and shipping capacity told versions of the same story: demand snapped back
faster than factories, ports, and truckers could handle it. Washington added
fuel in March with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, on top of the
relief already in the pipeline since 2020. For most of the year, the Federal
Reserve called the price surge “transitory,” a temporary reopening effect
expected to fade on its own, and held its policy rate near zero. By
November, with inflation still climbing, the Fed reversed course and began
winding down its bond purchases, the first step toward the rate hikes that
would follow in 2022. Gas averaged $3.01 a gallon for the year, up from
about $2.17 in 2020, while the federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
unchanged since 2009. In hindsight, 2021 reads as the hinge year: the point
where “transitory” inflation became the multi-year fight the Fed spent the
next two years trying to win.
MLA: “Inflation from 2014 to 2021: $100 is worth $114 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2014-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2014 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2014-to-2021/