$100 in 1915 is worth $321 in 1966,
because prices increased 220.8% over that period, an average of
2.31% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$321
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
220.8%
Average inflation rate
2.31% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$321
Price difference ($100 base)
$221
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1915 → 1966
$321
$100 in 1966 → 1915
$31.17
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1966
Between 1915 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 220.8%, which works out to an average of
2.31% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.31 buys in 1966: the 1915 dollar
lost 68.8% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 1966 at the same ratio, 3.21: $1,000 becomes
$3,208, and $10,000 becomes $32,079.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1966
$1.00
$3.21
$5.00
$16.04
$10.00
$32.08
$20.00
$64.16
$50.00
$160
$100
$321
$500
$1,604
$1,000
$3,208
$5,000
$16,040
$10,000
$32,079
$100,000
$320,792
$1,000,000
$3,207,921
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1966
Between 1915 and 1966, food rose the most, up 238.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 220.3%, against 220.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.31%
$321
Food
2.42%
$338
Apparel
2.31%
$320
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 1966
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 1915–1966 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
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$321
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $146 by
1941, on its way to $321 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 1915 had the buying
power of $321; 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 1915 to 1966: $100 is worth $321 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1966/