How Much Did $100 in 2020 Buy? A Year-by-Year Purchasing Power Breakdown
Five years ago, $100 bought $100 worth of goods. Today it buys $80.67. But that single number hides dramatic differences depending on what you were buying.
What is $100 from 2020 worth today?
Using the BLS CPI-U All Items index (series CUUR0000SA0), the purchasing power of $100 has eroded year by year:
| Year | CPI-U (All Items) | $100 in 2020 buys... | Lost that year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 258.8 | $100.00 | - |
| 2021 | 271.0 | $95.50 | -$4.50 |
| 2022 | 292.7 | $88.42 | -$7.08 |
| 2023 | 304.7 | $84.94 | -$3.48 |
| 2024 | 313.0 | $82.72 | -$2.22 |
| 2025 | 320.8 | $80.67 | -$2.05 |
Formula: Purchasing power = $100 x (CPI_2020 / CPI_year). Source: BLS CPI-U annual averages, series CUUR0000SA0.
The steepest drop was 2021-2022: you lost $7.08 of purchasing power in a single year. That was the post-pandemic supply chain shock and energy price spike hitting consumer prices all at once.
Purchasing power by spending category: inflation breakdown
The national CPI blends eight spending categories together. When you pull them apart, the picture changes sharply. Here is what $100 in 2020 buys in 2025, category by category:
| Category | $100 in 2020 is now... | Total lost |
|---|---|---|
| Apparel | $91.89 | -$8.11 |
| Other Goods & Services | $85.19 | -$14.81 |
| Medical Care | $83.40 | -$16.60 |
| Recreation | $82.37 | -$17.63 |
| Education & Communication | $80.96 | -$19.04 |
| All Items (National Average) | $80.67 | -$19.33 |
| Food & Beverages | $78.58 | -$21.42 |
| Housing | $77.58 | -$22.42 |
| Transportation | $72.62 | -$27.38 |
Formula: $100 x (CPI_category_2020 / CPI_category_2025). Source: BLS CPI-U sub-indices, annual averages.
The spread is striking. $100 of apparel spending in 2020 still buys $91.89 worth of clothes in 2025. But $100 of transportation spending? That only gets you $72.62 worth of car payments, gas, and maintenance. A $19.27 gap between the best and worst categories.
Which costs rose the most since 2020?
1. Transportation inflation: car prices, gas, and insurance up 37.7%
Car prices (new and used), gas, auto insurance, and repair costs all surged. If you bought a car, filled it with gas, and insured it between 2020 and 2025, you felt a 37.7% cumulative price increase. That is nearly 10 percentage points worse than the headline CPI suggested.
2. Food and housing inflation outpaced the national average
Food inflated 27.3% cumulatively. Housing inflated 28.9%. Since these two categories represent about 47% of the average household's budget, most people's actual experience was worse than the headline number. The CPI was partially dragged down by categories like apparel (+8.8%) that represent small shares of spending.
3. Clothing prices barely moved: apparel inflation just 8.8%
Clothing prices rose only 8.8% over five years, well below overall inflation. Global supply chains for textiles recovered faster than other sectors, and competition from online retailers kept margins tight. If your biggest expense is clothes, you had a good five years. Most people are not that lucky.
What $100 in 2020 buys today: a practical example
A grocery run that cost $100 in 2020 now costs $127.27 for the same items. A monthly car payment, insurance, and gas bill that ran $500 now effectively costs $637 for the same level of transportation. A $1,500 rent payment from 2020 would be $1,934 today for the same apartment at the same inflation-adjusted rate.
These are not hypothetical. They are direct calculations from BLS data. You can verify any of them yourself:
Check any year, any amount
Our Inflation Price Calculator lets you enter any dollar amount and any two years between 1913 and 2025. It uses the same BLS CPI-U data shown in this article.
Want to go deeper? The Personal Inflation & Tariff Impact Tracker spreadsheet calculates your personal rate across all 8 categories based on your actual spending.
Frequently asked questions about purchasing power
What is $100 from 2020 worth today?
$100 in 2020 is worth approximately $80.67 in 2025 purchasing power, based on BLS CPI-U data (series CUUR0000SA0). You need $123.96 today to buy what $100 bought in 2020.
How much has the dollar lost in value since 2020?
The U.S. dollar has lost approximately 19.3% of its purchasing power since 2020. The steepest single-year drop was 2021-2022, when purchasing power fell from $95.50 to $88.42 due to post-pandemic supply chain shocks and energy price spikes.
What category had the highest inflation since 2020?
Transportation at 37.7%, followed by housing at 28.9% and food at 27.3%. Apparel had the lowest at just 8.8%. This means $100 of transportation spending in 2020 only buys $72.62 of transportation today.
How much more do groceries cost compared to 2020?
Groceries are 27.3% more expensive in 2025 than in 2020. A grocery run that cost $100 in 2020 now costs $127.27 for the same items. Food inflation has moderated recently (2.3% in 2025) but the cumulative damage remains.
The takeaway
“Inflation is 3%” is a simplification that costs you money. If your spending skews toward transportation, food, and housing (which together make up 63% of the average budget), your real purchasing power loss since 2020 is closer to 25-28%, not the headline 24%.
The difference is $100 in your pocket becoming $72 vs $80. Over a full year of spending, that gap runs into thousands of dollars. It affects every financial decision: whether a raise is actually a raise, whether your savings are keeping up, and whether your retirement plan still works.
Know your real number.
Data sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U annual averages (2020-2025), series CUUR0000SA0 and sub-indices SAF, SAH, SAA, SAT, SAM, SAR, SAE, SAC. All calculations verified against accurate.software Inflation Price Calculator. Analysis by the staff at accurate.software.