$100 in 1963 is worth $427 in 1990,
because prices increased 327.1% over that period, an average of
5.52% a year.
$100 in 1963 has
the same buying power as
$427
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
327.1%
Average inflation rate
5.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$427
Price difference ($100 base)
$327
CPI in 1963
30.6
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1963
1.32%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1963 → 1990
$427
$100 in 1990 → 1963
$23.41
What happened to prices between 1963 and 1990
Between 1963 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.6 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 327.1%, which works out to an average of
5.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1963 bought what
$0.23 buys in 1990: the 1963 dollar
lost 76.6% of its purchasing power over
these 27 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1963, up slightly from 1962’s
1.0% as the expansion entered its third year with inflation still low,
conditions that gave Kennedy room to push the large tax cut he had
proposed to Congress. The cost of a first-class stamp rose that January
7, to 5 cents from 4 cents, the first postal rate change since 1958. That
August 28, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech
from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a quarter million people
gathered for the March on Washington, building pressure on Congress to
pass the civil rights bill Kennedy had proposed that June. The year ended
in tragedy: Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through
Dallas on November 22, and Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force
One that same afternoon. Johnson would spend the following year pushing
Kennedy’s stalled tax and civil rights agenda through Congress. The
minimum wage rose again that September, to $1.25 an hour, the second step
of the phased increase set two years earlier. Consumer prices finished
1963 209.1% above their 1913 level.
Every 1963 amount converts to 1990 at the same ratio, 4.27: $1,000 becomes
$4,271, and $10,000 becomes $42,712.
Amount in 1963
Value in 1990
$1.00
$4.27
$5.00
$21.36
$10.00
$42.71
$20.00
$85.42
$50.00
$214
$100
$427
$500
$2,136
$1,000
$4,271
$5,000
$21,356
$10,000
$42,712
$100,000
$427,124
$1,000,000
$4,271,242
Inflation by spending category, 1963–1990
Between 1963 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 575.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 164.6%, against 327.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1963
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1963 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.52%
$427
Medical care
7.33%
$676
Energy
5.74%
$452
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.52%
$426
Food
5.51%
$426
Transportation
5.17%
$390
Apparel
3.67%
$265
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1963: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1963 to 1990
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.45% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1963–1990 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1963, at end
1963–1970
3.45%
26.8%
$127
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$269
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$427
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1963
$100 from 1963 had already become $186 by
1976, on its way to $427 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 1963 had the buying
power of $427; 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 1963 to 1990: $100 is worth $427 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1963 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-1990/