$100 in 1962 is worth $363 in 1986,
because prices increased 262.9% over that period, an average of
5.52% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$363
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
262.9%
Average inflation rate
5.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$363
Price difference ($100 base)
$263
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1962 → 1986
$363
$100 in 1986 → 1962
$27.55
What happened to prices between 1962 and 1986
Between 1962 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 262.9%, which works out to an average of
5.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.28 buys in 1986: the 1962 dollar
lost 72.4% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 1986 at the same ratio, 3.63: $1,000 becomes
$3,629, and $10,000 becomes $36,291.
Amount in 1962
Value in 1986
$1.00
$3.63
$5.00
$18.15
$10.00
$36.29
$20.00
$72.58
$50.00
$181
$100
$363
$500
$1,815
$1,000
$3,629
$5,000
$18,146
$10,000
$36,291
$100,000
$362,914
$1,000,000
$3,629,139
Inflation by spending category, 1962–1986
Between 1962 and 1986, medical care rose the most, up 419.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 128.7%, against 262.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.52%
$363
Medical care
7.10%
$519
Energy
5.84%
$390
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.50%
$361
Food
5.44%
$356
Transportation
5.13%
$332
Apparel
3.51%
$229
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 1986
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 1962–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$363
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $163 by
1974, on its way to $363 in 1986; 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 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $363; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 1986: $100 is worth $363 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1986/