$100 in 1960 is worth $787 in 2013,
because prices increased 687.0% over that period, an average of
3.97% a year.
$100 in 1960 has
the same buying power as
$787
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
687.0%
Average inflation rate
3.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$787
Price difference ($100 base)
$687
CPI in 1960
29.6
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1960
1.72%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1960 → 2013
$787
$100 in 2013 → 1960
$12.71
What happened to prices between 1960 and 2013
Between 1960 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.6 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 687.0%, which works out to an average of
3.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1960 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2013: the 1960 dollar
lost 87.3% of its purchasing power over
these 53 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.7% in 1960, up from 1959’s 0.7% even
as the economy slipped into recession that April, a downturn that would
prove the shortest since World War II. The year’s defining political
moment came that November, when John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Richard
Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history,
decided by roughly two-tenths of a percentage point in the popular vote.
Television played a new role in the race: the first-ever televised
presidential debate that September, watched by an estimated 70 million
people, was widely seen as favoring the telegenic Kennedy. Civil rights
protest took a new form that February, when four Black freshmen at North
Carolina A&T State University sat down at a whites-only Woolworth’s lunch
counter in Greensboro and refused to leave; the sit-in tactic spread to
dozens of Southern cities within weeks. Cold War tensions flared that May,
when a Soviet missile downed an American U-2 spy plane deep inside Soviet
airspace. The pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was captured alive, embarrassing
the Eisenhower administration and collapsing a Paris summit called to ease
relations with Moscow. Consumer prices finished 1960 199.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.00 an hour.
Every 1960 amount converts to 2013 at the same ratio, 7.87: $1,000 becomes
$7,870, and $10,000 becomes $78,702.
Amount in 1960
Value in 2013
$1.00
$7.87
$5.00
$39.35
$10.00
$78.70
$20.00
$157
$50.00
$394
$100
$787
$500
$3,935
$1,000
$7,870
$5,000
$39,351
$10,000
$78,702
$100,000
$787,017
$1,000,000
$7,870,169
Inflation by spending category, 1960–2013
Between 1960 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 1806.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 178.8%, against 687.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1960
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1960 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.97%
$787
Medical care
5.72%
$1,906
Energy
4.61%
$1,091
Food
3.98%
$790
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.91%
$764
Transportation
3.82%
$730
Apparel
1.95%
$279
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1960: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1960 to 2013
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1960–2013 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1960, at end
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$131
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$278
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$442
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$582
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$737
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$787
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1960
$100 from 1960 had already become $370 by
1986, on its way to $787 in 2013; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1960 had the buying
power of $787; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1960 to 2013: $100 is worth $787 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1960-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1960 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1960-to-2013/