$100 in 2018 is worth $103 in 2020,
because prices increased 3.1% over that period, an average of
1.52% a year.
$100 in 2018 has
the same buying power as
$103
in 2020
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
3.1%
Average inflation rate
1.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$103
Price difference ($100 base)
$3.07
CPI in 2018
251.107
CPI in 2020
258.811
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
Inflation in 2020
1.23%
$100 in 2018 → 2020
$103
$100 in 2020 → 2018
$97.02
What happened to prices between 2018 and 2020
Between 2018 and 2020, the Consumer Price Index went from 251.107 to 258.811.
Cumulatively, prices increased 3.1%, which works out to an average of
1.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2018 bought what
$0.97 buys in 2020: the 2018 dollar
lost 3.0% of its purchasing power over
these 2 years.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
Every 2018 amount converts to 2020 at the same ratio, 1.03: $1,000 becomes
$1,031, and $10,000 becomes $10,307.
Amount in 2018
Value in 2020
$1.00
$1.03
$5.00
$5.15
$10.00
$10.31
$20.00
$20.61
$50.00
$51.53
$100
$103
$500
$515
$1,000
$1,031
$5,000
$5,153
$10,000
$10,307
$100,000
$103,068
$1,000,000
$1,030,680
Inflation by spending category, 2018–2020
Between 2018 and 2020, medical care rose the most, up 7.0%, while energy fell 10.5%, against 3.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2018
spending costs in 2020, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2018 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.52%
$103
Medical care
3.46%
$107
Food
2.66%
$105
Housing
2.54%
$105
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.95%
$104
Recreation
1.31%
$103
Education & communication
1.28%
$103
Transportation
-2.24%
$95.57
Apparel
-3.06%
$93.97
Energy
-5.37%
$89.55
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2018
$100 from 2018 had already become $102 by
2019, on its way to $103 in 2020; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 1.8% in 2019, and the smallest rise was 1.2% in 2020.
In 2020, prices rose 1.2% and $100 from 2018 had the buying
power of $103; 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 2018 to 2020: $100 is worth $103 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2018-to-2020/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2018 to 2020. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2018-to-2020/