$100 in 1962 is worth $771 in 2013,
because prices increased 671.4% over that period, an average of
4.09% a year.
$100 in 1962 has
the same buying power as
$771
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
671.4%
Average inflation rate
4.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$771
Price difference ($100 base)
$671
CPI in 1962
30.2
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1962
1.00%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1962 → 2013
$771
$100 in 2013 → 1962
$12.96
What happened to prices between 1962 and 2013
Between 1962 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.2 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 671.4%, which works out to an average of
4.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1962 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2013: the 1962 dollar
lost 87.0% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 2013 at the same ratio, 7.71: $1,000 becomes
$7,714, and $10,000 becomes $77,138.
Amount in 1962
Value in 2013
$1.00
$7.71
$5.00
$38.57
$10.00
$77.14
$20.00
$154
$50.00
$386
$100
$771
$500
$3,857
$1,000
$7,714
$5,000
$38,569
$10,000
$77,138
$100,000
$771,381
$1,000,000
$7,713,808
Inflation by spending category, 1962–2013
Between 1962 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 1709.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 175.2%, against 671.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1962
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1962 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.09%
$771
Medical care
5.84%
$1,809
Energy
4.78%
$1,081
Food
4.10%
$775
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.02%
$745
Transportation
3.91%
$706
Apparel
2.00%
$275
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1962: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1962 to 2013
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1962–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$722
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$771
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1962
$100 from 1962 had already become $392 by
1988, on its way to $771 in 2013; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1962 had the buying
power of $771; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1962 to 2013: $100 is worth $771 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1962 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1962-to-2013/