Price evolution of TIME magazine in the United States

1. Relevance of the price of TIME magazine
2. Price evolution of TIME magazine
   1. Absolute price of TIME magazine per year
   2. Inflation adjusted price of TIME magazine per year
3. Conclusion
4. FAQs about TIME magazine's price in the the United States
5. Price evolution table and full chart

Before moving on, it is also important to highight dat our data set of prices for TIME magazine has some gaps. From the 63 year period we will be looking at between 1960 and 2023 there are 19 years we do not have data for. These years are 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022. So please keep that in mind moving forward.

Price evolution of TIME magazine

The average price of TIME magazine between 1960 and 2023 was $1.70, with the lowest price being $0.25 in 1960 and the highest $5.99 in 2023 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Yes, I'm sorry to say, but TIME magazine in the United States has never been as expensive as it is today. However, if you look at the inflation adjusted price, TIME magazine actually peaked in 2000 at $6.47 (in today's money).

Let's take a closer look at the data in the tables below:

Absolute price of TIME magazine per year

Our data source for this article was: TIME magazine .

The absolute price of TIME magazine in the the United States has gone from $0.25 in 1960 to $5.99 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $5.74, or 2296% in a period of 63 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).

It also seems very unlikely the this price will go down in the future, considering that the only year the price of TIME magazine dropped was in 2004, and has only kept it's price or become more expensive all the other years.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of TIME magazine was in 2004, when the price dropped by $-3.50, or -100%. The biggest price increase was $0.55, or 18.64% in 2000.

With the price increasing most years, it comes as no surprise that the price of TIME magazine today is higher than what it used to be some years ago.

Inflation-adjusted price of TIME magazine per year

As accurate as the information above might be, it can also be somehow deceiving. This is because the value of money changes over time, usually decreasing. That means that $1 of today's money cannot buy as much as $1 in the past. This phenomenon is called inflation, and can make it complicated to compare historical pricing data. Luckily, we can adjust for it and calculate what a dollar value of the past would be equal to in today's money.

So let's not take a look at the evolution of the price of TIME magazine in the the United States, in that same 63 years period between 1960 and 2023, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).

When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of TIME magazine actually peaked in 2000, when it cost $6.47 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 1963 when it sold for $2.55.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 2004, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-5.99 (-100%). The biggest spike in adjusted price was in 1967 when it jumped by $1.32 (38.6%).

The average price of TIME magazine during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $4.97, and the most current price of $5.99 is 20.52% above that average.

Conclusion

The absolute price of TIME magazine has increased by $2.49 ($71.14%) in the last decade, and $5.74 (2296%) since 1960. But that comes as no surprise, as prices always tend to increase over time due to inflation.

Now, as we've explained earlier, the absolute price of a product does not necessarily represent its affordability fairly. For that we have to look at its inflation adjusted price, or in other words, the price evolution in today's money.

When we look at the inflation-adjusted price of TIME magazine, we see that it has varied ± 65.11% over this period of time, and is currently 20.56% more expensive than the average over these years .

Even when adjusting prices for inflation, TIME magazine prices are still higher in 2023 than they were in 1960. Although, considering the complexity of the economy, that price increase is not huge.

That being said, the current price of TIME magazine might be somehow close to what it was in 1960 (in today's money, of course), but it has had so much volatily over the years that it's really hard to predict how it might evolve from here.

FAQs about the price of TIME magazine in the the United States