$100 in 1916 is worth $284 in 1964,
because prices increased 184.4% over that period, an average of
2.20% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$284
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
184.4%
Average inflation rate
2.20% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$284
Price difference ($100 base)
$184
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1916 → 1964
$284
$100 in 1964 → 1916
$35.16
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1964
Between 1916 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 184.4%, which works out to an average of
2.20% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.35 buys in 1964: the 1916 dollar
lost 64.8% of its purchasing power over
these 48 years.
1916 was when World War I first showed up clearly in American price tags.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% for the year, easily the sharpest increase since
the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI history begins in 1913, as factories ran
flat out to fill steel, munitions, and food orders from Britain and France.
Railroad workers felt the squeeze from rising living costs enough to threaten
a nationwide strike; Congress headed it off in September with the Adamson
Act, which set an eight-hour standard workday for interstate rail employees,
the first federal law of its kind covering private-sector hours. Washington
was also preparing more directly for war: the National Defense Act, signed
in June, expanded the Army and National Guard and funded new
government-owned munitions plants, adding another source of demand to an
economy already running hot. Woodrow Wilson won re-election in November
largely on having kept the country out of the fighting so far, a promise
that would not survive the following spring. A first-class stamp still cost
2 cents, one of the few prices that had not yet moved.
Every 1916 amount converts to 1964 at the same ratio, 2.84: $1,000 becomes
$2,844, and $10,000 becomes $28,440.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1964
$1.00
$2.84
$5.00
$14.22
$10.00
$28.44
$20.00
$56.88
$50.00
$142
$100
$284
$500
$1,422
$1,000
$2,844
$5,000
$14,220
$10,000
$28,440
$100,000
$284,404
$1,000,000
$2,844,037
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1964
Between 1916 and 1964, apparel rose the most, up 181.5%, while food rose the least, up 178.8%, against 184.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.20%
$284
Apparel
2.18%
$282
Food
2.16%
$279
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1916: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1916 to 1964
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.39% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1916–1964 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1916, at end
1916–1920
16.39%
83.5%
$183
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$153
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$128
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$221
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$272
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$284
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $128 by
1940, on its way to $284 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 1916 had the buying
power of $284; 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 1916 to 1964: $100 is worth $284 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1964/