$100 in 1990 is worth $141 in 2003,
because prices increased 40.8% over that period, an average of
2.67% a year.
$100 in 1990 has
the same buying power as
$141
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
40.8%
Average inflation rate
2.67% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$141
Price difference ($100 base)
$40.78
CPI in 1990
130.7
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1990 → 2003
$141
$100 in 2003 → 1990
$71.03
What happened to prices between 1990 and 2003
Between 1990 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 130.7 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 40.8%, which works out to an average of
2.67% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1990 bought what
$0.71 buys in 2003: the 1990 dollar
lost 29.0% of its purchasing power over
these 13 years.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
Every 1990 amount converts to 2003 at the same ratio, 1.41: $1,000 becomes
$1,408, and $10,000 becomes $14,078.
Amount in 1990
Value in 2003
$1.00
$1.41
$5.00
$7.04
$10.00
$14.08
$20.00
$28.16
$50.00
$70.39
$100
$141
$500
$704
$1,000
$1,408
$5,000
$7,039
$10,000
$14,078
$100,000
$140,780
$1,000,000
$1,407,804
Inflation by spending category, 1990–2003
Between 1990 and 2003, medical care rose the most, up 82.5%, while apparel fell 2.6%, against 40.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1990
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1990 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.67%
$141
Medical care
4.74%
$182
Housing
2.83%
$144
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.77%
$143
Food
2.39%
$136
Energy
2.26%
$134
Transportation
2.09%
$131
Apparel
-0.20%
$97.42
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1990: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1990 to 2003
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.80% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1990–2003 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1990, at end
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$132
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$141
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1990
$100 from 1990 had already become $120 by
1996, on its way to $141 in 2003; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 4.2% in 1991, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1990 had the buying
power of $141; 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 1990 to 2003: $100 is worth $141 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1990 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1990-to-2003/