$100 in 2002 is worth $144 in 2020,
because prices increased 43.9% over that period, an average of
2.04% a year.
$100 in 2002 has
the same buying power as
$144
in 2020
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
43.9%
Average inflation rate
2.04% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$144
Price difference ($100 base)
$43.86
CPI in 2002
179.9
CPI in 2020
258.811
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
Inflation in 2020
1.23%
$100 in 2002 → 2020
$144
$100 in 2020 → 2002
$69.51
What happened to prices between 2002 and 2020
Between 2002 and 2020, the Consumer Price Index went from 179.9 to 258.811.
Cumulatively, prices increased 43.9%, which works out to an average of
2.04% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2002 bought what
$0.70 buys in 2020: the 2002 dollar
lost 30.5% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 2020 at the same ratio, 1.44: $1,000 becomes
$1,439, and $10,000 becomes $14,386.
Amount in 2002
Value in 2020
$1.00
$1.44
$5.00
$7.19
$10.00
$14.39
$20.00
$28.77
$50.00
$71.93
$100
$144
$500
$719
$1,000
$1,439
$5,000
$7,193
$10,000
$14,386
$100,000
$143,864
$1,000,000
$1,438,638
Inflation by spending category, 2002–2020
Between 2002 and 2020, medical care rose the most, up 81.7%, while apparel fell 4.8%, against 43.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2002
spending costs in 2020, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2002 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.04%
$144
Medical care
3.37%
$182
Energy
2.71%
$162
Food
2.34%
$152
Housing
2.31%
$151
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.91%
$141
Transportation
1.54%
$132
Education & communication
1.47%
$130
Recreation
0.78%
$115
Apparel
-0.27%
$95.23
Decade by decade: 2002 to 2020
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.43% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2002–2020 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2002, at end
2002–2010
2.43%
21.2%
$121
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$144
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2002
$100 from 2002 had already become $125 by
2011, on its way to $144 in 2020; 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 2020, prices rose 1.2% and $100 from 2002 had the buying
power of $144; the year's average CPI of 258.811 is the level
behind every 2020 figure on this page.
2020 was the year the pandemic rewired the price data without triggering the
inflation spike that followed it. Consumer prices rose just 1.2% for the
year, the mildest pace since 2015, as COVID-19 lockdowns emptied roads,
closed airports, and crushed energy demand. Oil told the starkest story: on
April 20, U.S. crude futures fell to about negative $37 a barrel, the first
negative settlement in the market’s history, as storage capacity ran out and no one
wanted the physical barrels. Gasoline followed it down, falling to about
$1.80 a gallon nationally that month before recovering to average $2.17 for
the year. Grocery prices moved the other way: pantry stocking and
meatpacking-plant disruptions pushed food-at-home costs up faster than
usual, a rare case of food and energy pulling the index in opposite
directions. Washington answered with the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, signed
March 27, which sent $1,200 payments to most adults and added $600 a week
to unemployment benefits as states ordered widespread business closures.
The Federal Reserve cut its policy rate to near zero in two emergency moves
that same month and pledged to buy Treasury and mortgage bonds “in the
amounts needed” to keep credit markets working, an open-ended commitment
beyond even its 2008 response. None of it showed up in the CPI yet: the
stimulus, the supply shocks, and the reopening whiplash that followed would
build into the fastest inflation in four decades over the next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 2002 to 2020: $100 is worth $144 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2002-to-2020/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2002 to 2020. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2002-to-2020/