$100 in 2015 is worth $108 in 2019,
because prices increased 7.9% over that period, an average of
1.91% a year.
$100 in 2015 has
the same buying power as
$108
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
7.9%
Average inflation rate
1.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$108
Price difference ($100 base)
$7.86
CPI in 2015
237.017
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 2015 → 2019
$108
$100 in 2019 → 2015
$92.71
What happened to prices between 2015 and 2019
Between 2015 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 237.017 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 7.9%, which works out to an average of
1.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2015 bought what
$0.93 buys in 2019: the 2015 dollar
lost 7.3% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
Every 2015 amount converts to 2019 at the same ratio, 1.08: $1,000 becomes
$1,079, and $10,000 becomes $10,786.
Amount in 2015
Value in 2019
$1.00
$1.08
$5.00
$5.39
$10.00
$10.79
$20.00
$21.57
$50.00
$53.93
$100
$108
$500
$539
$1,000
$1,079
$5,000
$5,393
$10,000
$10,786
$100,000
$107,864
$1,000,000
$1,078,644
Inflation by spending category, 2015–2019
Between 2015 and 2019, housing rose the most, up 11.7%, while apparel fell 1.5%, against 7.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2015
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2015 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.91%
$108
Housing
2.81%
$112
Medical care
2.77%
$112
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.10%
$109
Energy
1.49%
$106
Transportation
1.35%
$106
Food
1.10%
$104
Recreation
0.99%
$104
Education & communication
-0.08%
$99.70
Apparel
-0.37%
$98.53
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2015
$100 from 2015 had already become $103 by
2017, on its way to $108 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 1.3% in 2016.
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 2015 had the buying
power of $108; 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 2015 to 2019: $100 is worth $108 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2015-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2015 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2015-to-2019/