$100 in 1951 is worth $125 in 1966,
because prices increased 24.6% over that period, an average of
1.48% a year.
$100 in 1951 has
the same buying power as
$125
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
24.6%
Average inflation rate
1.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$125
Price difference ($100 base)
$24.62
CPI in 1951
26
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1951 → 1966
$125
$100 in 1966 → 1951
$80.25
What happened to prices between 1951 and 1966
Between 1951 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 26 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 24.6%, which works out to an average of
1.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1951 bought what
$0.80 buys in 1966: the 1951 dollar
lost 19.8% of its purchasing power over
these 15 years.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% in 1951, up sharply from 1950’s
1.3% and the fastest increase since 1947, as Korean War buying and a
defense spending surge hit an economy still adjusting to peacetime. Much
of the jump came early in the year, before the government stepped in: the
Office of Price Stabilization imposed a general ceiling on prices January
26, and the Wage Stabilization Board froze wages soon after, the broadest
peacetime controls since the war began that June. The year’s more lasting
change came in monetary policy. On March 4, the Treasury and the Federal
Reserve signed the Accord, ending the Fed’s wartime obligation to hold
down interest rates on government bonds and freeing the central bank to
fight inflation on its own terms for the first time since 1942, a shift
that would shape Fed independence for decades. Congress raised taxes that
October to help pay for the war: the Revenue Act of 1951, signed October
20, lifted individual and corporate income taxes along with a range of
excise taxes, the third increase in taxes since fighting began in Korea.
Consumer prices finished 1951 162.6% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
75 cents an hour.
Every 1951 amount converts to 1966 at the same ratio, 1.25: $1,000 becomes
$1,246, and $10,000 becomes $12,462.
Amount in 1951
Value in 1966
$1.00
$1.25
$5.00
$6.23
$10.00
$12.46
$20.00
$24.92
$50.00
$62.31
$100
$125
$500
$623
$1,000
$1,246
$5,000
$6,231
$10,000
$12,462
$100,000
$124,615
$1,000,000
$1,246,154
Inflation by spending category, 1951–1966
Between 1951 and 1966, medical care rose the most, up 65.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 11.6%, against 24.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1951
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1951 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.48%
$125
Medical care
3.41%
$165
Transportation
1.97%
$134
Food
1.21%
$120
Apparel
0.74%
$112
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1951: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1951 to 1966
Prices climbed fastest in the 1960s, averaging 1.52% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.45% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1951–1966 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1951, at end
1951–1960
1.45%
13.8%
$114
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$125
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1951
$100 from 1951 had already become $111 by
1958, on its way to $125 in 1966; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 3.3% in 1957, and prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1951 had the buying
power of $125; 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 1951 to 1966: $100 is worth $125 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1951 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-1966/