$100 in 1914 is worth $324 in 1966,
because prices increased 224.0% over that period, an average of
2.29% a year.
$100 in 1914 has
the same buying power as
$324
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
224.0%
Average inflation rate
2.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$324
Price difference ($100 base)
$224
CPI in 1914
10
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1914
1.01%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1914 → 1966
$324
$100 in 1966 → 1914
$30.86
What happened to prices between 1914 and 1966
Between 1914 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 10 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 224.0%, which works out to an average of
2.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1914 bought what
$0.31 buys in 1966: the 1914 dollar
lost 69.1% of its purchasing power over
these 52 years.
Consumer prices barely moved in 1914, rising just 1.0% for the year, even as
the country’s financial plumbing was rebuilt from the ground up. The Federal
Reserve Banks, created by the Federal Reserve Act signed the previous
December, opened their doors on November 16, giving the U.S. a central bank
for the first time since the 1830s. Weeks earlier, the outbreak of war in
Europe had spooked the New York Stock Exchange into closing for more than
four months, the longest shutdown in its history, as officials worried
European investors would dump American securities for gold. Domestically, the
bigger story was labor: Henry Ford’s decision to pay factory workers $5 a
day, announced in January, roughly doubled wages on his assembly lines and
pushed other manufacturers to raise pay just to keep workers from leaving. A
first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, a price that had held since 1885 and
would keep holding for three more years, even as the war reshaping Europe
began pulling the American economy toward the sustained wartime inflation of
1917.
Every 1914 amount converts to 1966 at the same ratio, 3.24: $1,000 becomes
$3,240, and $10,000 becomes $32,400.
Amount in 1914
Value in 1966
$1.00
$3.24
$5.00
$16.20
$10.00
$32.40
$20.00
$64.80
$50.00
$162
$100
$324
$500
$1,620
$1,000
$3,240
$5,000
$16,200
$10,000
$32,400
$100,000
$324,000
$1,000,000
$3,240,000
Inflation by spending category, 1914–1966
Between 1914 and 1966, food rose the most, up 231.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 226.7%, against 224.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1914
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1914 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.29%
$324
Food
2.33%
$331
Apparel
2.30%
$327
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1914: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1914 to 1966
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 12.25% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1914–1966 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1914, at end
1914–1920
12.25%
100.0%
$200
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$167
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$140
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$241
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$296
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$324
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1914
$100 from 1914 had already become $140 by
1940, on its way to $324 in 1966; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 18.0% in 1918, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1966
In 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1914 had the buying
power of $324; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1914 to 1966: $100 is worth $324 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1914 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-1966/