$100 in 2018 is worth $108 in 2021,
because prices increased 7.9% over that period, an average of
2.57% a year.
$100 in 2018 has
the same buying power as
$108
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
7.9%
Average inflation rate
2.57% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$108
Price difference ($100 base)
$7.91
CPI in 2018
251.107
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 2018 → 2021
$108
$100 in 2021 → 2018
$92.67
What happened to prices between 2018 and 2021
Between 2018 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 251.107 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 7.9%, which works out to an average of
2.57% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2018 bought what
$0.93 buys in 2021: the 2018 dollar
lost 7.3% of its purchasing power over
these 3 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 2021 at the same ratio, 1.08: $1,000 becomes
$1,079, and $10,000 becomes $10,791.
Amount in 2018
Value in 2021
$1.00
$1.08
$5.00
$5.40
$10.00
$10.79
$20.00
$21.58
$50.00
$53.96
$100
$108
$500
$540
$1,000
$1,079
$5,000
$5,396
$10,000
$10,791
$100,000
$107,910
$1,000,000
$1,079,102
Inflation by spending category, 2018–2021
Between 2018 and 2021, food rose the most, up 9.5%, while apparel fell 3.7%, against 7.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2018
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2018 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.57%
$108
Food
3.08%
$110
Transportation
3.07%
$109
Housing
2.79%
$109
Medical care
2.72%
$108
Energy
2.71%
$108
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.49%
$108
Recreation
1.68%
$105
Education & communication
1.40%
$104
Apparel
-1.25%
$96.29
Decade by decade: 2018 to 2021
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 4.70% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.52% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2018–2021 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2018, at end
2018–2020
1.52%
3.1%
$103
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$108
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2018
$100 from 2018 had already become $102 by
2019, on its way to $108 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 1.2% in 2020.
In 2021, prices rose 4.7% and $100 from 2018 had the buying
power of $108; 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 2018 to 2021: $100 is worth $108 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2018-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2018 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2018-to-2021/