$100 in 1962 is worth $392 in 1988,
because prices increased 291.7% over that period, an average of
5.39% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$392
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
291.7%
Average inflation rate
5.39% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$392
Price difference ($100 base)
$292
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1962 → 1988
$392
$100 in 1988 → 1962
$25.53
What happened to prices between 1962 and 1988
Between 1962 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 291.7%, which works out to an average of
5.39% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.26 buys in 1988: the 1962 dollar
lost 74.5% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 1988 at the same ratio, 3.92: $1,000 becomes
$3,917, and $10,000 becomes $39,172.
Amount in 1962
Value in 1988
$1.00
$3.92
$5.00
$19.59
$10.00
$39.17
$20.00
$78.34
$50.00
$196
$100
$392
$500
$1,959
$1,000
$3,917
$5,000
$19,586
$10,000
$39,172
$100,000
$391,722
$1,000,000
$3,917,219
Inflation by spending category, 1962–1988
Between 1962 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 489.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 149.2%, against 291.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.39%
$392
Medical care
7.06%
$590
Energy
5.43%
$395
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.40%
$393
Food
5.34%
$386
Transportation
4.97%
$353
Apparel
3.57%
$249
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 1988
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 1962–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$392
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $178 by
1975, on its way to $392 in 1988; 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 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $392; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 1988: $100 is worth $392 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1988/