$100 in 1963 is worth $761 in 2013,
because prices increased 661.3% over that period, an average of
4.14% a year.
$100 in 1963 has
the same buying power as
$761
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
661.3%
Average inflation rate
4.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$761
Price difference ($100 base)
$661
CPI in 1963
30.6
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1963
1.32%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1963 → 2013
$761
$100 in 2013 → 1963
$13.14
What happened to prices between 1963 and 2013
Between 1963 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.6 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 661.3%, which works out to an average of
4.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1963 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2013: the 1963 dollar
lost 86.9% of its purchasing power over
these 50 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 2013 at the same ratio, 7.61: $1,000 becomes
$7,613, and $10,000 becomes $76,130.
Amount in 1963
Value in 2013
$1.00
$7.61
$5.00
$38.06
$10.00
$76.13
$20.00
$152
$50.00
$381
$100
$761
$500
$3,806
$1,000
$7,613
$5,000
$38,065
$10,000
$76,130
$100,000
$761,297
$1,000,000
$7,612,974
Inflation by spending category, 1963–2013
Between 1963 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 1664.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 171.7%, against 661.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1963
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1963 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.14%
$761
Medical care
5.91%
$1,764
Energy
4.88%
$1,081
Food
4.15%
$762
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.07%
$735
Transportation
3.98%
$704
Apparel
2.02%
$272
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1963: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1963 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 1963–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$713
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$761
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1963
$100 from 1963 had already become $371 by
1987, on its way to $761 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 1963 had the buying
power of $761; 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 1963 to 2013: $100 is worth $761 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1963 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-2013/