$100 in 1962 is worth $465 in 1992,
because prices increased 364.6% over that period, an average of
5.25% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$465
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
364.6%
Average inflation rate
5.25% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$465
Price difference ($100 base)
$365
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1962 → 1992
$465
$100 in 1992 → 1962
$21.53
What happened to prices between 1962 and 1992
Between 1962 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 364.6%, which works out to an average of
5.25% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1992: the 1962 dollar
lost 78.5% of its purchasing power over
these 30 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 1992 at the same ratio, 4.65: $1,000 becomes
$4,646, and $10,000 becomes $46,457.
Amount in 1962
Value in 1992
$1.00
$4.65
$5.00
$23.23
$10.00
$46.46
$20.00
$92.91
$50.00
$232
$100
$465
$500
$2,323
$1,000
$4,646
$5,000
$23,228
$10,000
$46,457
$100,000
$464,570
$1,000,000
$4,645,695
Inflation by spending category, 1962–1992
Between 1962 and 1992, medical care rose the most, up 708.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 184.9%, against 364.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.25%
$465
Medical care
7.22%
$809
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.29%
$469
Energy
5.19%
$456
Food
5.15%
$451
Transportation
4.82%
$411
Apparel
3.55%
$285
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 1992
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 1962–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$465
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $201 by
1977, on its way to $465 in 1992; 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 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $465; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 1992: $100 is worth $465 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-1992/