$100 in 2002 is worth $119 in 2009,
because prices increased 19.3% over that period, an average of
2.55% a year.
$100 in 2002 has
the same buying power as
$119
in 2009
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
19.3%
Average inflation rate
2.55% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$119
Price difference ($100 base)
$19.25
CPI in 2002
179.9
CPI in 2009
214.537
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
Inflation in 2009
-0.36%
$100 in 2002 → 2009
$119
$100 in 2009 → 2002
$83.85
What happened to prices between 2002 and 2009
Between 2002 and 2009, the Consumer Price Index went from 179.9 to 214.537.
Cumulatively, prices increased 19.3%, which works out to an average of
2.55% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2002 bought what
$0.84 buys in 2009: the 2002 dollar
lost 16.1% of its purchasing power over
these 7 years.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
Every 2002 amount converts to 2009 at the same ratio, 1.19: $1,000 becomes
$1,193, and $10,000 becomes $11,925.
Amount in 2002
Value in 2009
$1.00
$1.19
$5.00
$5.96
$10.00
$11.93
$20.00
$23.85
$50.00
$59.63
$100
$119
$500
$596
$1,000
$1,193
$5,000
$5,963
$10,000
$11,925
$100,000
$119,253
$1,000,000
$1,192,535
Inflation by spending category, 2002–2009
Between 2002 and 2009, energy rose the most, up 58.7%, while apparel fell 3.2%, against 19.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2002
spending costs in 2009, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2002 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.55%
$119
Energy
6.82%
$159
Medical care
3.99%
$132
Food
3.08%
$124
Housing
2.69%
$120
Education & communication
2.40%
$118
Transportation
2.30%
$117
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.03%
$115
Recreation
1.05%
$108
Apparel
-0.46%
$96.84
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2002
$100 from 2002 had already become $109 by
2005, on its way to $119 in 2009; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.8% in 2008, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2009, prices fell 0.4% and $100 from 2002 had the buying
power of $119; the year's average CPI of 214.537 is the level
behind every 2009 figure on this page.
2009 is the rarest kind of year in the modern price data: one where the cost
of living went down. The CPI fell 0.4%, the first full-year deflation
since 1955, as the Great Recession hollowed out demand and oil unwound from
its $147 spike the summer before. Gasoline that had cost over $4 a gallon in
July 2008 averaged $2.35 in 2009, and that energy collapse dragged the
12-month inflation rate to −2.1% by July, the deepest reading since 1950.
Policymakers treated falling prices not as relief but as a warning: deflation
raises the real weight of debt precisely when households are drowning in it,
which is why the Federal Reserve pinned interest rates near zero, began buying
bonds by the hundreds of billions, and Washington passed a $787 billion
stimulus. The medicine took: prices stabilized within a year, and 2009 remains
the textbook case of why central banks fear deflation more than moderate
inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 2002 to 2009: $100 is worth $119 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2002-to-2009/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2002 to 2009. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2002-to-2009/