$100 in 1915 is worth $307 in 1964,
because prices increased 206.9% over that period, an average of
2.32% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$307
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
206.9%
Average inflation rate
2.32% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$307
Price difference ($100 base)
$207
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1915 → 1964
$307
$100 in 1964 → 1915
$32.58
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1964
Between 1915 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 206.9%, which works out to an average of
2.32% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.33 buys in 1964: the 1915 dollar
lost 67.4% of its purchasing power over
these 49 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1915, the second straight year of near-flat
inflation before the wartime price surges of 1916 through 1918. The year’s
defining event had nothing to do with prices directly: a German submarine
sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast on May 7, killing 128
Americans and hardening U.S. opinion against Germany two years before the
country entered the war. Economically, 1915 was a turning point of a
different kind. A recession that had dragged on since 1913 began lifting as
Britain and France placed growing orders for steel, munitions, and other war
materiel with American manufacturers, and U.S. exports to the Allied powers
climbed sharply through the year. That demand would keep building through
1916, eventually pulling prices up with it. On the regulatory
side, the Federal Trade Commission opened for business in March, taking on
enforcement of the Clayton Antitrust Act that Congress had passed the
previous fall. A first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, unchanged since 1885
and still two years from its first wartime increase.
Every 1915 amount converts to 1964 at the same ratio, 3.07: $1,000 becomes
$3,069, and $10,000 becomes $30,693.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1964
$1.00
$3.07
$5.00
$15.35
$10.00
$30.69
$20.00
$61.39
$50.00
$153
$100
$307
$500
$1,535
$1,000
$3,069
$5,000
$15,347
$10,000
$30,693
$100,000
$306,931
$1,000,000
$3,069,307
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1964
Between 1915 and 1964, food rose the most, up 215.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 209.2%, against 206.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.32%
$307
Food
2.37%
$315
Apparel
2.33%
$309
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1915: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1915 to 1964
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 14.64% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1915–1964 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1915, at end
1915–1920
14.64%
98.0%
$198
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$165
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$139
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$239
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$293
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$307
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $138 by
1939, on its way to $307 in 1964; 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: 1964
In 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $307; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 1964: $100 is worth $307 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1964/