$100 in 1926 is worth $183 in 1966,
because prices increased 83.1% over that period, an average of
1.52% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$183
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
83.1%
Average inflation rate
1.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$183
Price difference ($100 base)
$83.05
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1926 → 1966
$183
$100 in 1966 → 1926
$54.63
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1966
Between 1926 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 83.1%, which works out to an average of
1.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.55 buys in 1966: the 1926 dollar
lost 45.4% of its purchasing power over
these 40 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.1% in 1926, a third straight year of mild inflation
and part of the price stability that defined the middle of the decade.
Florida’s real estate boom, which had peaked the previous year on
speculative buying of undeveloped land, ended abruptly that September when
the Great Miami Hurricane made landfall near the city, killing hundreds and
wrecking the market for land whose value had rested on continued
speculation rather than anything underneath it. In Detroit, Henry Ford moved
his company to a five-day, 40-hour work week without cutting pay, a break
from the standard six-day schedule that other large employers would
gradually adopt over the following decades; Ford argued publicly that
workers with more leisure time would also become better customers for the
cars his factories built. Consumer prices remained low enough by historical
standards that a first-class stamp still cost just 2 cents, the same price
it had held since mid-1919.
Every 1926 amount converts to 1966 at the same ratio, 1.83: $1,000 becomes
$1,831, and $10,000 becomes $18,305.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1966
$1.00
$1.83
$5.00
$9.15
$10.00
$18.31
$20.00
$36.61
$50.00
$91.53
$100
$183
$500
$915
$1,000
$1,831
$5,000
$9,153
$10,000
$18,305
$100,000
$183,051
$1,000,000
$1,830,508
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1966
Between 1926 and 1966, food rose the most, up 98.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 89.2%, against 83.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.52%
$183
Food
1.73%
$199
Apparel
1.61%
$189
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1926: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1926 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 1926–1966 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1926, at end
1926–1930
-1.44%
-5.6%
$94.35
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$79.10
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$136
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$167
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$183
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $110 by
1946, on its way to $183 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 1926 had the buying
power of $183; 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 1926 to 1966: $100 is worth $183 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1966/