$100 in 1996 is worth $117 in 2003,
because prices increased 17.3% over that period, an average of
2.30% a year.
$100 in 1996 has
the same buying power as
$117
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
17.3%
Average inflation rate
2.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$117
Price difference ($100 base)
$17.27
CPI in 1996
156.9
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1996
2.95%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1996 → 2003
$117
$100 in 2003 → 1996
$85.27
What happened to prices between 1996 and 2003
Between 1996 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 156.9 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 17.3%, which works out to an average of
2.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1996 bought what
$0.85 buys in 2003: the 1996 dollar
lost 14.7% of its purchasing power over
these 7 years.
The median household earned about $35,500 in 1996, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, up noticeably
from the mid-decade lull, and a new home cost roughly $140,000. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the
year, ticking back up from 1995 as energy prices firmed. Washington passed two of the decade’s
more consequential laws that year: in February, the Telecommunications Act rewrote the rules for
phone, cable, and broadcast media for the first time since 1934, opening local markets to
competition and easing ownership limits; in August, a welfare overhaul ended the federal
guarantee of cash assistance, replacing it with block grants to states and time limits on
benefits. In October, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.75 an hour, its first increase in five
years and the opening step of a two-part law that would take it to $5.15 the following
September. Two sweeping new laws and a minimum wage finally on the move again made 1996 a year
that changed more about how the economy was governed than about how fast prices moved.
Every 1996 amount converts to 2003 at the same ratio, 1.17: $1,000 becomes
$1,173, and $10,000 becomes $11,727.
Amount in 1996
Value in 2003
$1.00
$1.17
$5.00
$5.86
$10.00
$11.73
$20.00
$23.45
$50.00
$58.64
$100
$117
$500
$586
$1,000
$1,173
$5,000
$5,864
$10,000
$11,727
$100,000
$117,272
$1,000,000
$1,172,721
Inflation by spending category, 1996–2003
Between 1996 and 2003, medical care rose the most, up 30.2%, while apparel fell 8.2%, against 17.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1996
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1996 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.30%
$117
Medical care
3.84%
$130
Energy
3.12%
$124
Housing
2.75%
$121
Food
2.32%
$117
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.23%
$117
Education & communication
2.04%
$115
Recreation
1.42%
$110
Transportation
1.40%
$110
Apparel
-1.21%
$91.80
Decade by decade: 1996 to 2003
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.35% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1996–2003 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1996, at end
1996–2000
2.35%
9.8%
$110
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$117
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1996
$100 from 1996 had already become $106 by
1999, on its way to $117 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 1996 had the buying
power of $117; 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 1996 to 2003: $100 is worth $117 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1996 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1996-to-2003/