$100 in 1997 is worth $115 in 2003,
because prices increased 14.6% over that period, an average of
2.30% a year.
$100 in 1997 has
the same buying power as
$115
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
14.6%
Average inflation rate
2.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$115
Price difference ($100 base)
$14.64
CPI in 1997
160.5
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1997 → 2003
$115
$100 in 2003 → 1997
$87.23
What happened to prices between 1997 and 2003
Between 1997 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 160.5 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 14.6%, which works out to an average of
2.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1997 bought what
$0.87 buys in 2003: the 1997 dollar
lost 12.8% of its purchasing power over
these 6 years.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
Every 1997 amount converts to 2003 at the same ratio, 1.15: $1,000 becomes
$1,146, and $10,000 becomes $11,464.
Amount in 1997
Value in 2003
$1.00
$1.15
$5.00
$5.73
$10.00
$11.46
$20.00
$22.93
$50.00
$57.32
$100
$115
$500
$573
$1,000
$1,146
$5,000
$5,732
$10,000
$11,464
$100,000
$114,642
$1,000,000
$1,146,417
Inflation by spending category, 1997–2003
Between 1997 and 2003, medical care rose the most, up 26.6%, while apparel fell 9.0%, against 14.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1997
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1997 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.30%
$115
Medical care
4.01%
$127
Energy
3.43%
$122
Housing
2.78%
$118
Food
2.27%
$114
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.21%
$114
Education & communication
1.84%
$112
Transportation
1.48%
$109
Recreation
1.28%
$108
Apparel
-1.56%
$90.97
Decade by decade: 1997 to 2003
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 2.37% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1997–2003 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1997, at end
1997–2000
2.37%
7.3%
$107
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$115
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1997
$100 from 1997 had already become $107 by
2000, on its way to $115 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 1997 had the buying
power of $115; 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 1997 to 2003: $100 is worth $115 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1997 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1997-to-2003/