$100 in 1962 is worth $713 in 2008,
because prices increased 612.9% over that period, an average of
4.36% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$713
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
612.9%
Average inflation rate
4.36% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$713
Price difference ($100 base)
$613
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1962 → 2008
$713
$100 in 2008 → 1962
$14.03
What happened to prices between 1962 and 2008
Between 1962 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 612.9%, which works out to an average of
4.36% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2008: the 1962 dollar
lost 86.0% of its purchasing power over
these 46 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 2008 at the same ratio, 7.13: $1,000 becomes
$7,129, and $10,000 becomes $71,292.
Amount in 1962
Value in 2008
$1.00
$7.13
$5.00
$35.65
$10.00
$71.29
$20.00
$143
$50.00
$356
$100
$713
$500
$3,565
$1,000
$7,129
$5,000
$35,646
$10,000
$71,292
$100,000
$712,924
$1,000,000
$7,129,238
Inflation by spending category, 1962–2008
Between 1962 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 1449.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 156.8%, against 612.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.36%
$713
Medical care
6.14%
$1,549
Energy
5.24%
$1,047
Food
4.32%
$700
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.28%
$687
Transportation
4.10%
$635
Apparel
2.07%
$257
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 2008
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 1962–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$713
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $344 by
1984, on its way to $713 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $713; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 2008: $100 is worth $713 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-2008/