$100 in 1962 is worth $301 in 1981,
because prices increased 201.0% over that period, an average of
5.97% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$301
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
201.0%
Average inflation rate
5.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$301
Price difference ($100 base)
$201
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1962 → 1981
$301
$100 in 1981 → 1962
$33.22
What happened to prices between 1962 and 1981
Between 1962 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 201.0%, which works out to an average of
5.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.33 buys in 1981: the 1962 dollar
lost 66.8% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 1981 at the same ratio, 3.01: $1,000 becomes
$3,010, and $10,000 becomes $30,099.
Amount in 1962
Value in 1981
$1.00
$3.01
$5.00
$15.05
$10.00
$30.10
$20.00
$60.20
$50.00
$150
$100
$301
$500
$1,505
$1,000
$3,010
$5,000
$15,050
$10,000
$30,099
$100,000
$300,993
$1,000,000
$3,009,934
Inflation by spending category, 1962–1981
Between 1962 and 1981, energy rose the most, up 332.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 105.8%, against 201.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.97%
$301
Energy
8.01%
$432
Medical care
6.86%
$353
Food
6.06%
$306
Transportation
6.00%
$303
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.65%
$284
Apparel
3.87%
$206
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1962–1981 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
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$301
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $134 by
1971, on its way to $301 in 1981; 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 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $301; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 1981: $100 is worth $301 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1981/