$100 in 1991 is worth $135 in 2003,
because prices increased 35.1% over that period, an average of
2.54% a year.
$100 in 1991 has
the same buying power as
$135
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
35.1%
Average inflation rate
2.54% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$135
Price difference ($100 base)
$35.10
CPI in 1991
136.2
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1991 → 2003
$135
$100 in 2003 → 1991
$74.02
What happened to prices between 1991 and 2003
Between 1991 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 136.2 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 35.1%, which works out to an average of
2.54% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1991 bought what
$0.74 buys in 2003: the 1991 dollar
lost 26.0% of its purchasing power over
these 12 years.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
Every 1991 amount converts to 2003 at the same ratio, 1.35: $1,000 becomes
$1,351, and $10,000 becomes $13,510.
Amount in 1991
Value in 2003
$1.00
$1.35
$5.00
$6.75
$10.00
$13.51
$20.00
$27.02
$50.00
$67.55
$100
$135
$500
$675
$1,000
$1,351
$5,000
$6,755
$10,000
$13,510
$100,000
$135,095
$1,000,000
$1,350,954
Inflation by spending category, 1991–2003
Between 1991 and 2003, medical care rose the most, up 67.9%, while apparel fell 6.1%, against 35.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1991
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1991 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.54%
$135
Medical care
4.41%
$168
Housing
2.74%
$138
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.59%
$136
Energy
2.42%
$133
Food
2.34%
$132
Transportation
2.03%
$127
Apparel
-0.52%
$93.94
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1991: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1991 to 2003
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.64% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1991–2003 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1991, at end
1991–2000
2.64%
26.4%
$126
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$135
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1991
$100 from 1991 had already become $118 by
1997, on its way to $135 in 2003; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.4% in 2000, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1998.
In 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1991 had the buying
power of $135; 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 1991 to 2003: $100 is worth $135 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1991 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1991-to-2003/