$100 in 1964 is worth $143 in 1973,
because prices increased 43.2% over that period, an average of
4.07% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$143
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
43.2%
Average inflation rate
4.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$143
Price difference ($100 base)
$43.23
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1964 → 1973
$143
$100 in 1973 → 1964
$69.82
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1973
Between 1964 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 43.2%, which works out to an average of
4.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.70 buys in 1973: the 1964 dollar
lost 30.2% of its purchasing power over
these 9 years.
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.
Every 1964 amount converts to 1973 at the same ratio, 1.43: $1,000 becomes
$1,432, and $10,000 becomes $14,323.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1973
$1.00
$1.43
$5.00
$7.16
$10.00
$14.32
$20.00
$28.65
$50.00
$71.61
$100
$143
$500
$716
$1,000
$1,432
$5,000
$7,161
$10,000
$14,323
$100,000
$143,226
$1,000,000
$1,432,258
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1973
Between 1964 and 1973, medical care rose the most, up 57.7%, while energy rose the least, up 30.7%, against 43.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.07%
$143
Medical care
5.19%
$158
Food
4.84%
$153
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.91%
$141
Apparel
3.52%
$137
Transportation
3.06%
$131
Energy
3.02%
$131
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1973
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 4.60% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.81% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1973 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1964, at end
1964–1970
3.81%
25.2%
$125
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$143
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $112 by
1968, on its way to $143 in 1973; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 6.2% in 1973, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1965.
In 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $143; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1973: $100 is worth $143 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1973/