$100 in 1962 is worth $376 in 1987,
because prices increased 276.2% over that period, an average of
5.44% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$376
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
276.2%
Average inflation rate
5.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$376
Price difference ($100 base)
$276
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1962 → 1987
$376
$100 in 1987 → 1962
$26.58
What happened to prices between 1962 and 1987
Between 1962 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 276.2%, which works out to an average of
5.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1987: the 1962 dollar
lost 73.4% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1987 at the same ratio, 3.76: $1,000 becomes
$3,762, and $10,000 becomes $37,616.
Amount in 1962
Value in 1987
$1.00
$3.76
$5.00
$18.81
$10.00
$37.62
$20.00
$75.23
$50.00
$188
$100
$376
$500
$1,881
$1,000
$3,762
$5,000
$18,808
$10,000
$37,616
$100,000
$376,159
$1,000,000
$3,761,589
Inflation by spending category, 1962–1987
Between 1962 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 453.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 138.9%, against 276.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.44%
$376
Medical care
7.08%
$554
Energy
5.62%
$392
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.45%
$376
Food
5.38%
$371
Transportation
5.04%
$342
Apparel
3.54%
$239
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 1987
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 1962–1987 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
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$376
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $163 by
1974, on its way to $376 in 1987; 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 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $376; the year's average CPI of 113.6 is the level
behind every 1987 figure on this page.
1987 tested whether the disinflation of the 1980s could survive its first
real shock. Paul Volcker, who had run the Federal Reserve since 1979 and
driven inflation down from 13.5% to routine mid-single digits, handed the
chairmanship to Alan Greenspan in August. Inflation for the year came in at
3.6%, edging up as the expansion entered its fifth year and a weaker
dollar, following 1985’s Plaza Accord, pushed up the price of imported
goods. Then, on October 19, the stock market delivered Greenspan’s first
crisis: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6% in a single session,
still the largest one-day percentage drop in its history, as computer-driven
“portfolio insurance” trading amplified a global sell-off that had started
days earlier. The Fed responded within 24 hours, publicly pledging to
supply whatever liquidity the banking system needed, and the panic did not
spread to the broader economy. Growth continued and unemployment kept
falling through the rest of the year. It was an early demonstration of what
became known as the “Greenspan put,” a Fed willing to move fast and loosen
policy to contain financial shocks even while still watching inflation,
that shaped central banking for the next two decades.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 1987: $100 is worth $376 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1987/