Value of a Dollar in 2010
The 2010s were the calmest decade for prices since the 1950s. The surge that began in 2021 changed what a 2010 dollar is worth.
More optionsYear average → today (August 2026)
A month compares month to month, as BLS’s own calculator does.
Worth in
$1 in 2010 is worth
$1.54in August 2026
Prices rose 53.6% in between, so $1 of 2010 goods costs $1.54 in August 2026.
The price of $1 of 2010 goods, year by year
- Total inflation
- +53.6%
- Average a year
- 2.70%
- $1 of cash now buys
- $0.65 of 2010 goods
Official CPI-U data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through August 2026. These are averages for urban consumers, not advice. Terms
How this works: Method, 6 sources,
How this works
Method
A dollar from 2010 is worth what its goods cost now: the amount × the CPI now ÷ the CPI in 2010. For 2010 the calculator uses BLS’s annual average, the mean of the twelve monthly indexes; pick a month above for a month-to-month figure, which is how BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator works. Full method
Sources
Limits
Official CPI-U data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through August 2026. These are averages for urban consumers, not advice.
Changes
- First version: what a dollar is worth from 1913 to August 2026, your own inflation rate, whether a raise beat inflation, the current rate, the rate by year and 12 year pages.
$1 from 2010, worked out
The CPI-U averaged 218.056 in 2010 and 334.980 in August 2026. Divide the two: 334.980 ÷ 218.056 = 1.536, so $1 of 2010 goods costs $1.54 now. The same factor scales any amount: $10,000 in 2010 is $15,362 today, a total rise of 54% or 2.70% a year over 16 years.
The low-inflation 2010s
From 2010 to 2020 the CPI rose 1.7% a year, the slowest of any decade since the 1930s. In 2015 the annual average rose just 0.1%, the least since 2009.
The Fed’s historians describe a recovery from the Great Recession that was slow and tenuous: unemployment peaked at 10% in October 2009 and was still above 7% four years later. The Fed kept its target rate near zero and promised to keep it there, partly to lift inflation expectations and keep deflation at bay.
That calm ended in 2021. The CPI rose 4.7% in 2021 and 8.0% in 2022, and the 12-month rate peaked at 9.1% in June 2022. A dollar from 2010 needed about $1.19 in 2020 to buy the same things; it needs $1.54 now.
- From 2010 to 2020 the CPI rose 1.7% a year. Source: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0).
- The recovery from the Great Recession was slow and tenuous, and the Fed’s forward guidance aimed partly at raising inflation expectations. Source: Federal Reserve History, The Great Recession.
How the value of a dollar is worked out
A dollar from 2010 is worth what its goods cost now: the amount × the CPI now ÷ the CPI in 2010. For 2010 the calculator uses BLS’s annual average, the mean of the twelve monthly indexes; pick a month above for a month-to-month figure, which is how BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator works.
The index is the CPI-U, all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted: the series BLS publishes back to 1913. It measures the prices urban consumers pay, so it says what a dollar buys, not what an investment earned.
value now = amount × CPI(August 2026) ÷ CPI(2010)
$1 from 2010 in later years
What $1 of 2010 goods cost in each later year (annual averages), with that year’s inflation; the last row is the latest month.
| Year | CPI-U | $1 from 2010 | Inflation that year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 218.056 | $1 | +1.6% |
| 2011 | 224.939 | $1.03 | +3.2% |
| 2012 | 229.594 | $1.05 | +2.1% |
| 2013 | 232.957 | $1.07 | +1.5% |
| 2014 | 236.736 | $1.09 | +1.6% |
| 2015 | 237.017 | $1.09 | +0.1% |
| 2016 | 240.007 | $1.10 | +1.3% |
| 2017 | 245.120 | $1.12 | +2.1% |
| 2018 | 251.107 | $1.15 | +2.4% |
| 2019 | 255.657 | $1.17 | +1.8% |
Show all 17 rowsShow fewer
| 2020 | 258.811 | $1.19 | +1.2% |
| 2021 | 270.970 | $1.24 | +4.7% |
| 2022 | 292.655 | $1.34 | +8.0% |
| 2023 | 304.702 | $1.40 | +4.1% |
| 2024 | 313.689 | $1.44 | +2.9% |
| 2025 | 321.943 | $1.48 | +2.6% |
| August 2026 | 334.980 | $1.54 | +3.4% (12 months) |
Data: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0) · BLS, CPI-U all items, seasonally adjusted (CUSR0000SA0) · BLS, Consumer Price Index data · BLS, Relative importance of CPI components, December 2025 · BLS, Average hourly earnings, total private (CES0500000003). Inflation calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was inflation so low in the 2010s?
The recovery from the 2008 crisis was slow, with unemployment high for years, so prices had little push even with the Fed’s interest rate near zero.
What was $1 from 2010 worth in 2020?
About $1.19.
How much have prices risen since 2010?
By 53.6% from the 2010 average to August 2026. Prices were 19% higher by 2020, and have risen another 29.4% since.