$100 in 1924 is worth $181 in 1964,
because prices increased 81.3% over that period, an average of
1.50% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$181
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
81.3%
Average inflation rate
1.50% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$181
Price difference ($100 base)
$81.29
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1924 → 1964
$181
$100 in 1964 → 1924
$55.16
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1964
Between 1924 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 81.3%, which works out to an average of
1.50% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.55 buys in 1964: the 1924 dollar
lost 44.8% of its purchasing power over
these 40 years.
Consumer prices held flat in 1924, the CPI’s annual average unchanged from
1923 after swinging from a sharp postwar drop to a modest rise the year
before. That stability, extending the calm that had settled in after the
deflation of 1921 and 1922, became a defining feature of the rest of the
decade. Congress tightened immigration policy further with the Immigration
Act of 1924, signed May 26, which cut the national-origins quota from 3% of
each nationality’s 1910 census population to 2% of its 1890 population,
shifting admissions further toward northern and western Europe and
effectively excluding most immigration from Asia. Abroad, the U.S.-backed
Dawes Plan, adopted that August, reorganized Germany’s war reparations
payments and opened the way for American loans into the German economy,
helping stabilize European currencies after the hyperinflation that had
peaked in 1923. At home, Calvin Coolidge, who had served out
the remainder of Warren Harding’s term after his death the previous year,
won a full term of his own that November, campaigning on continued
prosperity and limited government. First-class postage remained at 2 cents,
a price unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1924 amount converts to 1964 at the same ratio, 1.81: $1,000 becomes
$1,813, and $10,000 becomes $18,129.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1964
$1.00
$1.81
$5.00
$9.06
$10.00
$18.13
$20.00
$36.26
$50.00
$90.64
$100
$181
$500
$906
$1,000
$1,813
$5,000
$9,064
$10,000
$18,129
$100,000
$181,287
$1,000,000
$1,812,865
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1964
Between 1924 and 1964, food rose the most, up 107.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 76.5%, against 81.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.50%
$181
Food
1.84%
$207
Apparel
1.43%
$176
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1924: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1924 to 1964
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1924–1964 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1924, at end
1924–1930
-0.39%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$141
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$173
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$181
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $103 by
1944, on its way to $181 in 1964; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, 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 1924 had the buying
power of $181; 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 1924 to 1964: $100 is worth $181 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1964/