$100 in 1954 is worth $115 in 1964,
because prices increased 15.2% over that period, an average of
1.43% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$115
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
15.2%
Average inflation rate
1.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$115
Price difference ($100 base)
$15.24
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1954 → 1964
$115
$100 in 1964 → 1954
$86.77
What happened to prices between 1954 and 1964
Between 1954 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 15.2%, which works out to an average of
1.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.87 buys in 1964: the 1954 dollar
lost 13.2% of its purchasing power over
these 10 years.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Every 1954 amount converts to 1964 at the same ratio, 1.15: $1,000 becomes
$1,152, and $10,000 becomes $11,524.
Amount in 1954
Value in 1964
$1.00
$1.15
$5.00
$5.76
$10.00
$11.52
$20.00
$23.05
$50.00
$57.62
$100
$115
$500
$576
$1,000
$1,152
$5,000
$5,762
$10,000
$11,524
$100,000
$115,242
$1,000,000
$1,152,416
Inflation by spending category, 1954–1964
Between 1954 and 1964, medical care rose the most, up 38.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 9.7%, against 15.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.43%
$115
Medical care
3.29%
$138
Transportation
1.87%
$120
Food
1.11%
$112
Apparel
0.93%
$110
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1954: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1954 to 1964
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 1.61% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (1.16% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1954–1964 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1954, at end
1954–1960
1.61%
10.0%
$110
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$115
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $108 by
1959, on its way to $115 in 1964; 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 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1954 had the buying
power of $115; 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 1954 to 1964: $100 is worth $115 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1964/