$100 in 1985 is worth $171 in 2003,
because prices increased 71.0% over that period, an average of
3.03% a year.
$100 in 1985 has
the same buying power as
$171
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
71.0%
Average inflation rate
3.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$171
Price difference ($100 base)
$71.00
CPI in 1985
107.6
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1985 → 2003
$171
$100 in 2003 → 1985
$58.48
What happened to prices between 1985 and 2003
Between 1985 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 107.6 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 71.0%, which works out to an average of
3.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1985 bought what
$0.58 buys in 2003: the 1985 dollar
lost 41.5% of its purchasing power over
these 18 years.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
Every 1985 amount converts to 2003 at the same ratio, 1.71: $1,000 becomes
$1,710, and $10,000 becomes $17,100.
Amount in 1985
Value in 2003
$1.00
$1.71
$5.00
$8.55
$10.00
$17.10
$20.00
$34.20
$50.00
$85.50
$100
$171
$500
$855
$1,000
$1,710
$5,000
$8,550
$10,000
$17,100
$100,000
$171,004
$1,000,000
$1,710,037
Inflation by spending category, 1985–2003
Between 1985 and 2003, medical care rose the most, up 161.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 15.1%, against 71.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1985
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1985 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.03%
$171
Medical care
5.49%
$262
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.23%
$177
Housing
3.05%
$172
Food
3.01%
$170
Transportation
2.21%
$148
Energy
1.65%
$134
Apparel
0.79%
$115
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1985: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1985 to 2003
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 3.97% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1985–2003 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1985, at end
1985–1990
3.97%
21.5%
$121
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$160
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$171
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1985
$100 from 1985 had already become $138 by
1994, on its way to $171 in 2003; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 5.4% in 1990, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1985 had the buying
power of $171; the year's average CPI of 184 is the level
behind every 2003 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.3% in 2003, up from 1.6% in 2002, as gasoline climbed from $1.36 to $1.59 a
gallon around the March invasion of Iraq. Even so, the Federal Reserve spent the year worried
about prices being too low: on June 25 it cut its policy rate to 1.0%, the lowest since 1958,
and said the risk of deflation, though small, deserved a response. The median household earned
about $43,300 and a new home cost roughly $195,000. Congress passed a second round of tax cuts
in May, and the economy grew faster in the second half of the year than at any point since
1999. Hiring lagged the recovery, and unemployment peaked at 6.3% in June. A first-class stamp
stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1985 to 2003: $100 is worth $171 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1985 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1985-to-2003/