$100 in 1962 is worth $273 in 1980,
because prices increased 172.8% over that period, an average of
5.73% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$273
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
172.8%
Average inflation rate
5.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$273
Price difference ($100 base)
$173
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1962 → 1980
$273
$100 in 1980 → 1962
$36.65
What happened to prices between 1962 and 1980
Between 1962 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 172.8%, which works out to an average of
5.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.37 buys in 1980: the 1962 dollar
lost 63.3% of its purchasing power over
these 18 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1962, matching 1961’s pace as
inflation stayed remarkably low and unemployment slowly declined from its
recession-era highs. That January, Kennedy’s Council of Economic Advisers
introduced “wage-price guideposts,” non-binding targets meant to keep pay
and price increases in line with productivity growth without formal
controls. The space race delivered a milestone that February, when John
Glenn’s Friendship 7 capsule circled Earth three times, making him the
first American to orbit the planet. Markets got a scare that spring: a
dispute over U.S. Steel’s April price increase, which Kennedy publicly
pressured the company into rolling back, rattled investors, and the Dow
Jones Industrial Average fell about 5.7% on May 28, its steepest one-day
drop since the 1929 crash. The year’s gravest moment came that October,
when American reconnaissance photographed Soviet nuclear missiles in
Cuba, setting off a 13-day standoff that brought the two superpowers
closer to nuclear war than at any other point in the Cold War before the
Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a U.S. pledge
not to invade the island. Consumer prices finished 1962 205.1% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.15 an hour.
Every 1962 amount converts to 1980 at the same ratio, 2.73: $1,000 becomes
$2,728, and $10,000 becomes $27,285.
Amount in 1962
Value in 1980
$1.00
$2.73
$5.00
$13.64
$10.00
$27.28
$20.00
$54.57
$50.00
$136
$100
$273
$500
$1,364
$1,000
$2,728
$5,000
$13,642
$10,000
$27,285
$100,000
$272,848
$1,000,000
$2,728,477
Inflation by spending category, 1962–1980
Between 1962 and 1980, energy rose the most, up 280.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 96.3%, against 172.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.73%
$273
Energy
7.71%
$381
Medical care
6.65%
$319
Food
5.96%
$284
Transportation
5.67%
$270
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.39%
$257
Apparel
3.82%
$196
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1962–1980 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1962, at end
1962–1970
3.18%
28.5%
$128
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$273
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $134 by
1971, on its way to $273 in 1980; 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 the smallest rise was 1.3% in 1964.
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $273; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 1980: $100 is worth $273 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1980/