$100 in 1924 is worth $189 in 1966,
because prices increased 89.5% over that period, an average of
1.53% a year.
$100 in 1924 has
the same buying power as
$189
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
89.5%
Average inflation rate
1.53% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$189
Price difference ($100 base)
$89.47
CPI in 1924
17.1
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1924
0.00%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1924 → 1966
$189
$100 in 1966 → 1924
$52.78
What happened to prices between 1924 and 1966
Between 1924 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 89.5%, which works out to an average of
1.53% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1924 bought what
$0.53 buys in 1966: the 1924 dollar
lost 47.2% of its purchasing power over
these 42 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 1966 at the same ratio, 1.89: $1,000 becomes
$1,895, and $10,000 becomes $18,947.
Amount in 1924
Value in 1966
$1.00
$1.89
$5.00
$9.47
$10.00
$18.95
$20.00
$37.89
$50.00
$94.74
$100
$189
$500
$947
$1,000
$1,895
$5,000
$9,474
$10,000
$18,947
$100,000
$189,474
$1,000,000
$1,894,737
Inflation by spending category, 1924–1966
Between 1924 and 1966, food rose the most, up 122.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 82.8%, against 89.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1924
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1924 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.53%
$189
Food
1.92%
$222
Apparel
1.45%
$183
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 1966
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 1924–1966 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
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$189
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1924
$100 from 1924 had already become $103 by
1944, on its way to $189 in 1966; 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: 1966
In 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1924 had the buying
power of $189; 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 1924 to 1966: $100 is worth $189 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1924 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1924-to-1966/