$100 in 2016 is worth $108 in 2020,
because prices increased 7.8% over that period, an average of
1.90% a year.
$100 in 2016 has
the same buying power as
$108
in 2020
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
7.8%
Average inflation rate
1.90% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$108
Price difference ($100 base)
$7.83
CPI in 2016
240.007
CPI in 2020
258.811
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
Inflation in 2020
1.23%
$100 in 2016 → 2020
$108
$100 in 2020 → 2016
$92.73
What happened to prices between 2016 and 2020
Between 2016 and 2020, the Consumer Price Index went from 240.007 to 258.811.
Cumulatively, prices increased 7.8%, which works out to an average of
1.90% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2016 bought what
$0.93 buys in 2020: the 2016 dollar
lost 7.3% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
Every 2016 amount converts to 2020 at the same ratio, 1.08: $1,000 becomes
$1,078, and $10,000 becomes $10,783.
Amount in 2016
Value in 2020
$1.00
$1.08
$5.00
$5.39
$10.00
$10.78
$20.00
$21.57
$50.00
$53.92
$100
$108
$500
$539
$1,000
$1,078
$5,000
$5,392
$10,000
$10,783
$100,000
$107,835
$1,000,000
$1,078,348
Inflation by spending category, 2016–2020
Between 2016 and 2020, medical care rose the most, up 11.9%, while apparel fell 6.3%, against 7.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2016
spending costs in 2020, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2016 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.90%
$108
Medical care
2.85%
$112
Housing
2.73%
$111
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.97%
$108
Food
1.89%
$108
Recreation
1.11%
$104
Energy
0.96%
$104
Transportation
0.82%
$103
Education & communication
0.21%
$101
Apparel
-1.62%
$93.68
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2016
$100 from 2016 had already become $105 by
2018, on its way to $108 in 2020; 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 1.2% in 2020.
In 2020, prices rose 1.2% and $100 from 2016 had the buying
power of $108; the year's average CPI of 258.811 is the level
behind every 2020 figure on this page.
2020 was the year the pandemic rewired the price data without triggering the
inflation spike that followed it. Consumer prices rose just 1.2% for the
year, the mildest pace since 2015, as COVID-19 lockdowns emptied roads,
closed airports, and crushed energy demand. Oil told the starkest story: on
April 20, U.S. crude futures fell to about negative $37 a barrel, the first
negative settlement in the market’s history, as storage capacity ran out and no one
wanted the physical barrels. Gasoline followed it down, falling to about
$1.80 a gallon nationally that month before recovering to average $2.17 for
the year. Grocery prices moved the other way: pantry stocking and
meatpacking-plant disruptions pushed food-at-home costs up faster than
usual, a rare case of food and energy pulling the index in opposite
directions. Washington answered with the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, signed
March 27, which sent $1,200 payments to most adults and added $600 a week
to unemployment benefits as states ordered widespread business closures.
The Federal Reserve cut its policy rate to near zero in two emergency moves
that same month and pledged to buy Treasury and mortgage bonds “in the
amounts needed” to keep credit markets working, an open-ended commitment
beyond even its 2008 response. None of it showed up in the CPI yet: the
stimulus, the supply shocks, and the reopening whiplash that followed would
build into the fastest inflation in four decades over the next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 2016 to 2020: $100 is worth $108 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2016-to-2020/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2016 to 2020. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2016-to-2020/