$100 in 1962 is worth $433 in 1990,
because prices increased 332.8% over that period, an average of
5.37% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$433
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
332.8%
Average inflation rate
5.37% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$433
Price difference ($100 base)
$333
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1962 → 1990
$433
$100 in 1990 → 1962
$23.11
What happened to prices between 1962 and 1990
Between 1962 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 332.8%, which works out to an average of
5.37% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.23 buys in 1990: the 1962 dollar
lost 76.9% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 1990 at the same ratio, 4.33: $1,000 becomes
$4,328, and $10,000 becomes $43,278.
Amount in 1962
Value in 1990
$1.00
$4.33
$5.00
$21.64
$10.00
$43.28
$20.00
$86.56
$50.00
$216
$100
$433
$500
$2,164
$1,000
$4,328
$5,000
$21,639
$10,000
$43,278
$100,000
$432,781
$1,000,000
$4,327,815
Inflation by spending category, 1962–1990
Between 1962 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 592.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 168.0%, against 332.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.37%
$433
Medical care
7.16%
$693
Energy
5.53%
$452
Food
5.37%
$433
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.36%
$432
Transportation
4.99%
$391
Apparel
3.58%
$268
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 1990
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 1962–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$433
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $188 by
1976, on its way to $433 in 1990; 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 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $433; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 1990: $100 is worth $433 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1990/