What America was like in 2003
You were born in…
2003
This is where your story begins.
You’ve been here for
23
years
That’s about 8,400 days of history.
A first-class stamp in 2003 cost
37¢
Today the same stamp costs 82¢.
A dollar from 2003 would be worth
$1.83
today
Measured by the government’s Consumer Price Index.
The federal minimum wage in 2003 was
$5.15
an hour
Today it’s $7.25.
The president in 2003
George W. Bush
Since then you’ve lived under 4 presidents.
The 2000 census counted
281 million
Americans
By 2020 there were 331 million of us.
You’ve been around for
23
Super Bowls
From Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004 to Super Bowl LX in 2026.
You’re older than…
- Facebook launched2004. You were 1.
- The iPhone went on sale2007. You were 4.
- The iPad went on sale2010. You were 7.
So yes,
you’ve seen the worldchange a lot.
And you remember it.
Your 2003 story
That was 2003.
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Where these numbers come from
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, all items, 1982-84=100
- U.S. Postal Service, Rates for Domestic Letters Since 1863
- U.S. Department of Labor, history of federal minimum wage rates
- U.S. Census Bureau, decennial census resident population
- Presidents and milestones: widely documented public records.