$100 in 1962 is worth $570 in 2000,
because prices increased 470.2% over that period, an average of
4.69% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$570
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
470.2%
Average inflation rate
4.69% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$570
Price difference ($100 base)
$470
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1962 → 2000
$570
$100 in 2000 → 1962
$17.54
What happened to prices between 1962 and 2000
Between 1962 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 470.2%, which works out to an average of
4.69% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.18 buys in 2000: the 1962 dollar
lost 82.5% of its purchasing power over
these 38 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 2000 at the same ratio, 5.70: $1,000 becomes
$5,702, and $10,000 becomes $57,020.
Amount in 1962
Value in 2000
$1.00
$5.70
$5.00
$28.51
$10.00
$57.02
$20.00
$114
$50.00
$285
$100
$570
$500
$2,851
$1,000
$5,702
$5,000
$28,510
$10,000
$57,020
$100,000
$570,199
$1,000,000
$5,701,987
Inflation by spending category, 1962–2000
Between 1962 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 1009.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 179.9%, against 470.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.69%
$570
Medical care
6.54%
$1,110
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.72%
$577
Energy
4.59%
$551
Food
4.58%
$548
Transportation
4.31%
$498
Apparel
2.75%
$280
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 2000
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1962–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$570
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $273 by
1980, on its way to $570 in 2000; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $570; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 2000: $100 is worth $570 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-2000/