$100 in 2003 is worth $141 in 2020,
because prices increased 40.7% over that period, an average of
2.03% a year.
$100 in 2003 has
the same buying power as
$141
in 2020
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
40.7%
Average inflation rate
2.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$141
Price difference ($100 base)
$40.66
CPI in 2003
184
CPI in 2020
258.811
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
Inflation in 2020
1.23%
$100 in 2003 → 2020
$141
$100 in 2020 → 2003
$71.09
What happened to prices between 2003 and 2020
Between 2003 and 2020, the Consumer Price Index went from 184 to 258.811.
Cumulatively, prices increased 40.7%, which works out to an average of
2.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 2003 bought what
$0.71 buys in 2020: the 2003 dollar
lost 28.9% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2020 at the same ratio, 1.41: $1,000 becomes
$1,407, and $10,000 becomes $14,066.
Amount in 2003
Value in 2020
$1.00
$1.41
$5.00
$7.03
$10.00
$14.07
$20.00
$28.13
$50.00
$70.33
$100
$141
$500
$703
$1,000
$1,407
$5,000
$7,033
$10,000
$14,066
$100,000
$140,658
$1,000,000
$1,406,582
Inflation by spending category, 2003–2020
Between 2003 and 2020, medical care rose the most, up 74.6%, while apparel fell 2.3%, against 40.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 2003
spending costs in 2020, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 2003 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.03%
$141
Medical care
3.33%
$175
Food
2.35%
$148
Housing
2.29%
$147
Energy
2.18%
$144
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.94%
$139
Education & communication
1.45%
$128
Transportation
1.45%
$128
Recreation
0.76%
$114
Apparel
-0.14%
$97.67
Decade by decade: 2003 to 2020
Prices climbed fastest in the 2000s, averaging 2.46% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 2003–2020 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 2003, at end
2003–2010
2.46%
18.5%
$119
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$141
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 2003
$100 from 2003 had already become $122 by
2011, on its way to $141 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 2003 had the buying
power of $141; 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 2003 to 2020: $100 is worth $141 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2003-to-2020/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 2003 to 2020. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/2003-to-2020/