$100 in 1954 is worth $120 in 1966,
because prices increased 20.4% over that period, an average of
1.56% a year.
$100 in 1954 has
the same buying power as
$120
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
20.4%
Average inflation rate
1.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$120
Price difference ($100 base)
$20.45
CPI in 1954
26.9
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1954 → 1966
$120
$100 in 1966 → 1954
$83.02
What happened to prices between 1954 and 1966
Between 1954 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.9 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 20.4%, which works out to an average of
1.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1954 bought what
$0.83 buys in 1966: the 1954 dollar
lost 17.0% of its purchasing power over
these 12 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 1966 at the same ratio, 1.20: $1,000 becomes
$1,204, and $10,000 becomes $12,045.
Amount in 1954
Value in 1966
$1.00
$1.20
$5.00
$6.02
$10.00
$12.04
$20.00
$24.09
$50.00
$60.22
$100
$120
$500
$602
$1,000
$1,204
$5,000
$6,022
$10,000
$12,045
$100,000
$120,446
$1,000,000
$1,204,461
Inflation by spending category, 1954–1966
Between 1954 and 1966, medical care rose the most, up 47.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 13.7%, against 20.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1954
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1954 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.56%
$120
Medical care
3.31%
$148
Transportation
1.79%
$124
Food
1.52%
$120
Apparel
1.07%
$114
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 1966
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 1.61% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (1.52% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1954–1966 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1954, at end
1954–1960
1.61%
10.0%
$110
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$120
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1954
$100 from 1954 had already become $110 by
1960, on its way to $120 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 1954 had the buying
power of $120; 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 1954 to 1966: $100 is worth $120 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1954 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1954-to-1966/