$100 in 1934 is worth $231 in 1964,
because prices increased 131.3% over that period, an average of
2.84% a year.
$100 in 1934 has
the same buying power as
$231
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
131.3%
Average inflation rate
2.84% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$231
Price difference ($100 base)
$131
CPI in 1934
13.4
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1934
3.08%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1934 → 1964
$231
$100 in 1964 → 1934
$43.23
What happened to prices between 1934 and 1964
Between 1934 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.4 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 131.3%, which works out to an average of
2.84% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1934 bought what
$0.43 buys in 1964: the 1934 dollar
lost 56.8% of its purchasing power over
these 30 years.
Consumer prices rose 3.1% in 1934, the first annual increase since 1926;
every year from 1927 through 1933 had been flat or falling,
so the turn marked a real break after eight years without a single gain.
Currency policy did some of the work. The Gold Reserve Act, signed January
30, formally devalued the dollar by raising the official price of gold from
$20.67 to $35 an ounce, part of the administration’s deliberate effort to
reflate prices after four straight years of deflation. Financial regulation
tightened at the same time: the Securities Exchange Act of June 6 created
the Securities and Exchange Commission to police stock exchanges and enforce
disclosure rules, a direct response to the speculation blamed for the 1929
crash. The recovery was fragile and unevenly felt, especially on the Great
Plains, where drought had turned overplowed farmland to dust. Over May 9-11,
high winds lifted an estimated 350 million tons of topsoil into the air,
darkening skies as far away as Washington and New York and giving city
readers who had never seen a wheat field a first glimpse of the disaster
building in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Consumer prices stood 35.4% above
their 1913 level, still well below the 1929 peak but rising
for the first time since the Depression began. First-class postage held at
3 cents.
Every 1934 amount converts to 1964 at the same ratio, 2.31: $1,000 becomes
$2,313, and $10,000 becomes $23,134.
Amount in 1934
Value in 1964
$1.00
$2.31
$5.00
$11.57
$10.00
$23.13
$20.00
$46.27
$50.00
$116
$100
$231
$500
$1,157
$1,000
$2,313
$5,000
$11,567
$10,000
$23,134
$100,000
$231,343
$1,000,000
$2,313,433
Inflation by spending category, 1934–1964
Between 1934 and 1964, food rose the most, up 171.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 129.6%, against 131.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1934
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1934 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.84%
$231
Food
3.39%
$272
Apparel
2.81%
$230
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1934: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1934 to 1964
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 5.58% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1934–1964 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1934, at end
1934–1940
0.73%
4.5%
$104
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$180
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$221
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$231
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1934
$100 from 1934 had already become $178 by
1949, on its way to $231 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 2.1% in 1938, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1934 had the buying
power of $231; 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 1934 to 1964: $100 is worth $231 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1934-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1934 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1934-to-1964/