$100 in 1999 is worth $110 in 2003,
because prices increased 10.4% over that period, an average of
2.51% a year.
$100 in 1999 has
the same buying power as
$110
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
10.4%
Average inflation rate
2.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$110
Price difference ($100 base)
$10.44
CPI in 1999
166.6
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1999 → 2003
$110
$100 in 2003 → 1999
$90.54
What happened to prices between 1999 and 2003
Between 1999 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 166.6 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 10.4%, which works out to an average of
2.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1999 bought what
$0.91 buys in 2003: the 1999 dollar
lost 9.5% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
Every 1999 amount converts to 2003 at the same ratio, 1.10: $1,000 becomes
$1,104, and $10,000 becomes $11,044.
Amount in 1999
Value in 2003
$1.00
$1.10
$5.00
$5.52
$10.00
$11.04
$20.00
$22.09
$50.00
$55.22
$100
$110
$500
$552
$1,000
$1,104
$5,000
$5,522
$10,000
$11,044
$100,000
$110,444
$1,000,000
$1,104,442
Inflation by spending category, 1999–2003
Between 1999 and 2003, energy rose the most, up 28.0%, while apparel fell 7.9%, against 10.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1999
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1999 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.51%
$110
Energy
6.38%
$128
Medical care
4.35%
$119
Housing
3.05%
$113
Food
2.34%
$110
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.21%
$109
Transportation
2.21%
$109
Education & communication
2.06%
$108
Recreation
1.32%
$105
Apparel
-2.04%
$92.08
Decade by decade: 1999 to 2003
Prices climbed fastest in the 1990s, averaging 3.36% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1999–2003 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1999, at end
1999–2000
3.36%
3.4%
$103
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$110
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1999
$100 from 1999 had already become $106 by
2001, on its way to $110 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 2002.
In 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1999 had the buying
power of $110; 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 1999 to 2003: $100 is worth $110 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1999 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1999-to-2003/