$100 in 1963 is worth $704 in 2008,
because prices increased 603.6% over that period, an average of
4.43% a year.
$100 in 1963 has
the same buying power as
$704
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
603.6%
Average inflation rate
4.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$704
Price difference ($100 base)
$604
CPI in 1963
30.6
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1963
1.32%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1963 → 2008
$704
$100 in 2008 → 1963
$14.21
What happened to prices between 1963 and 2008
Between 1963 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.6 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 603.6%, which works out to an average of
4.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1963 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2008: the 1963 dollar
lost 85.8% of its purchasing power over
these 45 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 2008 at the same ratio, 7.04: $1,000 becomes
$7,036, and $10,000 becomes $70,360.
Amount in 1963
Value in 2008
$1.00
$7.04
$5.00
$35.18
$10.00
$70.36
$20.00
$141
$50.00
$352
$100
$704
$500
$3,518
$1,000
$7,036
$5,000
$35,180
$10,000
$70,360
$100,000
$703,605
$1,000,000
$7,036,046
Inflation by spending category, 1963–2008
Between 1963 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 1410.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 153.5%, against 603.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1963
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1963 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.43%
$704
Medical care
6.22%
$1,511
Energy
5.36%
$1,047
Food
4.38%
$688
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.34%
$678
Transportation
4.19%
$633
Apparel
2.09%
$254
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1963: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1963 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 1963–2008 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$563
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$704
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1963
$100 from 1963 had already become $352 by
1985, on its way to $704 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 1963 had the buying
power of $704; 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 1963 to 2008: $100 is worth $704 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1963 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-2008/