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.
Year in review
Inflation in 1969
The U.S. inflation rate in 1969 was 5.5% (CPI: 36.7). Convert 1969 dollars to today →
5.5% 1969 inflation rate
2.4% 1960s average
6.2% peak month (Dec)
4.4% lowest month (Jan)
What things cost in 1969
| First-class stamp | $0.06 |
|---|---|
| Federal minimum wage | $1.60 |
What $100 from 1969 was worth later
| In 1970 | $106 |
|---|---|
| In 1980 | $225 |
| In 1990 | $356 |
| In 2000 | $469 |
| In 2010 | $594 |
| In 2020 | $705 |
| In 2026 | $904 |
Inflation in 1969, month by month
| Month | CPI-U | 12-month rate |
|---|---|---|
| January | 35.6 | 4.4% |
| February | 35.8 | 4.7% |
| March | 36.1 | 5.2% |
| April | 36.3 | 5.5% |
| May | 36.4 | 5.5% |
| June | 36.6 | 5.5% |
| July | 36.8 | 5.4% |
| August | 37 | 5.7% |
| September | 37.1 | 5.7% |
| October | 37.3 | 5.7% |
| November | 37.5 | 5.9% |
| December | 37.7 | 6.2% |
Economic events of 1969
- Consumer prices rise 5.5%, the fastest pace since the Korean War era Years of Vietnam War spending, a labor market with unemployment under 4%, and expansionary fiscal policy finally showed up fully in prices, closing out the decade at its highest inflation rate yet.
- Richard Nixon is inaugurated, pledging to fight inflation Sworn in January 20, Nixon took office promising to curb rising prices without wage and price controls, a position he would reverse within two years.
- Apollo 11 lands the first humans on the Moon Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface on July 20 while Michael Collins orbited above, fulfilling the goal Kennedy had set in 1961 of a Moon landing before the decade's end.
- Woodstock draws 400,000 to a dairy farm in upstate New York The August 15-18 music festival became a symbol of 1960s counterculture even as it left organizers deep in debt and gridlocked the roads around Bethel, New York, for days.
- The Stonewall riots launch the modern gay rights movement Police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York's Greenwich Village on June 28; the multi-day resistance that followed is widely credited with starting the modern movement for LGBTQ rights.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index history; Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum; NASA History Office (Apollo 11); National Archives (the Stonewall riots).
Inflation figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U annual averages. See the methodology.