$100 in 1963 is worth $458 in 1992,
because prices increased 358.5% over that period, an average of
5.39% a year.
$100 in 1963 has
the same buying power as
$458
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
358.5%
Average inflation rate
5.39% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$458
Price difference ($100 base)
$358
CPI in 1963
30.6
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1963
1.32%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1963 → 1992
$458
$100 in 1992 → 1963
$21.81
What happened to prices between 1963 and 1992
Between 1963 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.6 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 358.5%, which works out to an average of
5.39% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1963 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1992: the 1963 dollar
lost 78.2% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 1992 at the same ratio, 4.58: $1,000 becomes
$4,585, and $10,000 becomes $45,850.
Amount in 1963
Value in 1992
$1.00
$4.58
$5.00
$22.92
$10.00
$45.85
$20.00
$91.70
$50.00
$229
$100
$458
$500
$2,292
$1,000
$4,585
$5,000
$22,925
$10,000
$45,850
$100,000
$458,497
$1,000,000
$4,584,967
Inflation by spending category, 1963–1992
Between 1963 and 1992, medical care rose the most, up 688.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 181.2%, against 358.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1963
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1963 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.39%
$458
Medical care
7.38%
$789
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.43%
$463
Energy
5.37%
$456
Food
5.27%
$443
Transportation
4.98%
$409
Apparel
3.63%
$281
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1963: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1963 to 1992
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 1963–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$458
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1963
$100 from 1963 had already become $198 by
1977, on its way to $458 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 1963 had the buying
power of $458; 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 1963 to 1992: $100 is worth $458 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1963 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-1992/