$100 in 1969 is worth $635 in 2013,
because prices increased 534.8% over that period, an average of
4.29% a year.
$100 in 1969 has
the same buying power as
$635
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
534.8%
Average inflation rate
4.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$635
Price difference ($100 base)
$535
CPI in 1969
36.7
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1969
5.46%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1969 → 2013
$635
$100 in 2013 → 1969
$15.75
What happened to prices between 1969 and 2013
Between 1969 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 36.7 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 534.8%, which works out to an average of
4.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1969 bought what
$0.16 buys in 2013: the 1969 dollar
lost 84.2% of its purchasing power over
these 44 years.
Consumer prices rose 5.5% in 1969, up from 1968’s 4.2% and
the fastest pace since the Korean War era, as years of Vietnam War
spending, a labor market with unemployment under 4%, and expansionary
fiscal policy finally showed up fully in prices. Richard Nixon was
inaugurated that January 20, pledging to curb rising prices without wage
and price controls, a position he would reverse within two years. The
decade’s most triumphant moment came that July 20, when Neil Armstrong
and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon while Michael Collins orbited above,
fulfilling the goal Kennedy had set in 1961 of landing a man on the lunar
surface before the decade’s end. Culture and protest both reached new
extremes that year: an estimated 400,000 people gathered on a dairy farm
in Bethel, New York, for the Woodstock music festival that August, and a
police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village that
June touched off days of resistance now credited with launching the
modern gay rights movement. Consumer prices finished the decade 270.7%
above their 1913 level, up 24.0% from where they stood in
1960. The 1960s had opened with inflation near 1% a year and closed with
prices rising faster than at any point since Korea, setting up the Great
Inflation that would define the
1970s. First-class postage held at 6 cents, and the minimum wage stayed
at $1.60 an hour.
Every 1969 amount converts to 2013 at the same ratio, 6.35: $1,000 becomes
$6,348, and $10,000 becomes $63,476.
Amount in 1969
Value in 2013
$1.00
$6.35
$5.00
$31.74
$10.00
$63.48
$20.00
$127
$50.00
$317
$100
$635
$500
$3,174
$1,000
$6,348
$5,000
$31,738
$10,000
$63,476
$100,000
$634,760
$1,000,000
$6,347,602
Inflation by spending category, 1969–2013
Between 1969 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 1232.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 124.3%, against 534.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1969
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1969 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.29%
$635
Medical care
6.06%
$1,333
Energy
5.34%
$986
Housing
4.41%
$669
Food
4.31%
$639
Transportation
4.19%
$609
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.19%
$609
Apparel
1.85%
$224
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1969: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1969 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 1969–2013 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1969, at end
1969–1970
5.72%
5.7%
$106
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$225
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$356
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$469
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$594
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$635
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1969
$100 from 1969 had already become $371 by
1991, on its way to $635 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 1969 had the buying
power of $635; 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 1969 to 2013: $100 is worth $635 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1969-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1969 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1969-to-2013/