$100 in 1928 is worth $179 in 1963,
because prices increased 78.9% over that period, an average of
1.68% a year.
$100 in 1928 has
the same buying power as
$179
in 1963
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
78.9%
Average inflation rate
1.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$179
Price difference ($100 base)
$78.95
CPI in 1928
17.1
CPI in 1963
30.6
Inflation in 1928
-1.72%
Inflation in 1963
1.32%
$100 in 1928 → 1963
$179
$100 in 1963 → 1928
$55.88
What happened to prices between 1928 and 1963
Between 1928 and 1963, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 30.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 78.9%, which works out to an average of
1.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1928 bought what
$0.56 buys in 1963: the 1928 dollar
lost 44.1% of its purchasing power over
these 35 years.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1928, the second straight year of mild decline
even as the stock market climbed sharply, a widening gap between asset
prices and the cost of living that later economists pointed to as an early
warning sign. The Federal Reserve tightened policy repeatedly over the year,
raising its discount rate in an effort to slow the flood of borrowed money
pouring into stock purchases without derailing the broader economy, a
balancing act it ultimately failed to manage. Herbert Hoover won the
presidential election that November, defeating Democrat Al Smith on a
platform built around continuing the prosperity of the Coolidge years; few
voters or policymakers anticipated how quickly that prosperity would end.
First-class postage remained at 2 cents, a price that had now held for nine
straight years.
Every 1928 amount converts to 1963 at the same ratio, 1.79: $1,000 becomes
$1,789, and $10,000 becomes $17,895.
Amount in 1928
Value in 1963
$1.00
$1.79
$5.00
$8.95
$10.00
$17.89
$20.00
$35.79
$50.00
$89.47
$100
$179
$500
$895
$1,000
$1,789
$5,000
$8,947
$10,000
$17,895
$100,000
$178,947
$1,000,000
$1,789,474
Inflation by spending category, 1928–1963
Between 1928 and 1963, food rose the most, up 90.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 87.6%, against 78.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1928
spending costs in 1963, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1928 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.68%
$179
Food
1.86%
$191
Apparel
1.81%
$188
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1928: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1928 to 1963
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1928–1963 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1928, at end
1928–1930
-1.18%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$141
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$173
1960–1963
1.11%
3.4%
$179
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1928
$100 from 1928 had already become $114 by
1946, on its way to $179 in 1963; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1963
In 1963, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1928 had the buying
power of $179; the year's average CPI of 30.6 is the level
behind every 1963 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1963, up slightly from 1962’s
1.0% as the expansion entered its third year with inflation still low,
conditions that gave Kennedy room to push the large tax cut he had
proposed to Congress. The cost of a first-class stamp rose that January
7, to 5 cents from 4 cents, the first postal rate change since 1958. That
August 28, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech
from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a quarter million people
gathered for the March on Washington, building pressure on Congress to
pass the civil rights bill Kennedy had proposed that June. The year ended
in tragedy: Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through
Dallas on November 22, and Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force
One that same afternoon. Johnson would spend the following year pushing
Kennedy’s stalled tax and civil rights agenda through Congress. The
minimum wage rose again that September, to $1.25 an hour, the second step
of the phased increase set two years earlier. Consumer prices finished
1963 209.1% above their 1913 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1928 to 1963: $100 is worth $179 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1963/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1928 to 1963. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1928-to-1963/