$100 in 1963 is worth $784 in 2016,
because prices increased 684.3% over that period, an average of
3.96% a year.
$100 in 1963 has
the same buying power as
$784
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
684.3%
Average inflation rate
3.96% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$784
Price difference ($100 base)
$684
CPI in 1963
30.6
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1963
1.32%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1963 → 2016
$784
$100 in 2016 → 1963
$12.75
What happened to prices between 1963 and 2016
Between 1963 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.6 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 684.3%, which works out to an average of
3.96% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1963 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2016: the 1963 dollar
lost 87.3% of its purchasing power over
these 53 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 2016 at the same ratio, 7.84: $1,000 becomes
$7,843, and $10,000 becomes $78,434.
Amount in 1963
Value in 2016
$1.00
$7.84
$5.00
$39.22
$10.00
$78.43
$20.00
$157
$50.00
$392
$100
$784
$500
$3,922
$1,000
$7,843
$5,000
$39,217
$10,000
$78,434
$100,000
$784,337
$1,000,000
$7,843,366
Inflation by spending category, 1963–2016
Between 1963 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 1824.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 168.8%, against 684.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1963
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1963 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.96%
$784
Medical care
5.74%
$1,924
Energy
4.09%
$839
Food
3.99%
$797
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.95%
$779
Transportation
3.54%
$631
Apparel
1.88%
$269
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1963: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1963 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1963–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$784
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1963
$100 from 1963 had already become $405 by
1989, on its way to $784 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1963 had the buying
power of $784; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1963 to 2016: $100 is worth $784 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1963 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-2016/