$100 in 2003 is worth $117 in 2009,
because prices increased 16.6% over that period, an average of
2.59% a year.
$100 in 2003 has
the same buying power as
$117
in 2009
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
16.6%
Average inflation rate
2.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$117
Price difference ($100 base)
$16.60
CPI in 2003
184
CPI in 2009
214.537
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
Inflation in 2009
-0.36%
$100 in 2003 → 2009
$117
$100 in 2009 → 2003
$85.77
What happened to prices between 2003 and 2009
Between 2003 and 2009, the Consumer Price Index went from 184 to 214.537.
Cumulatively, prices increased 16.6%, which works out to an average of
2.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2003 bought what
$0.86 buys in 2009: the 2003 dollar
lost 14.2% of its purchasing power over
these 6 years.
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.
Every 2003 amount converts to 2009 at the same ratio, 1.17: $1,000 becomes
$1,166, and $10,000 becomes $11,660.
Amount in 2003
Value in 2009
$1.00
$1.17
$5.00
$5.83
$10.00
$11.66
$20.00
$23.32
$50.00
$58.30
$100
$117
$500
$583
$1,000
$1,166
$5,000
$5,830
$10,000
$11,660
$100,000
$116,596
$1,000,000
$1,165,962
Inflation by spending category, 2003–2009
Between 2003 and 2009, energy rose the most, up 41.5%, while apparel fell 0.7%, against 16.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2003
spending costs in 2009, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2003 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.59%
$117
Energy
5.95%
$141
Medical care
3.99%
$126
Food
3.24%
$121
Housing
2.72%
$117
Education & communication
2.51%
$116
Transportation
2.17%
$114
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.13%
$113
Recreation
1.02%
$106
Apparel
-0.11%
$99.32
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2003
$100 from 2003 had already become $110 by
2006, on its way to $117 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 2003 had the buying
power of $117; 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 2003 to 2009: $100 is worth $117 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2003-to-2009/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2003 to 2009. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2003-to-2009/