$100 in 1964 is worth $159 in 1974,
because prices increased 59.0% over that period, an average of
4.75% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$159
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
59.0%
Average inflation rate
4.75% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$159
Price difference ($100 base)
$59.03
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1964 → 1974
$159
$100 in 1974 → 1964
$62.88
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1974
Between 1964 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 59.0%, which works out to an average of
4.75% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.63 buys in 1974: the 1964 dollar
lost 37.1% of its purchasing power over
these 10 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 1974 at the same ratio, 1.59: $1,000 becomes
$1,590, and $10,000 becomes $15,903.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1974
$1.00
$1.59
$5.00
$7.95
$10.00
$15.90
$20.00
$31.81
$50.00
$79.52
$100
$159
$500
$795
$1,000
$1,590
$5,000
$7,952
$10,000
$15,903
$100,000
$159,032
$1,000,000
$1,590,323
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1974
Between 1964 and 1974, food rose the most, up 74.9%, while transportation rose the least, up 45.9%, against 59.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.75%
$159
Food
5.75%
$175
Medical care
5.59%
$172
Energy
5.41%
$169
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.34%
$153
Apparel
3.91%
$147
Transportation
3.85%
$146
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.81% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1974 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1964, at end
1964–1970
3.81%
25.2%
$125
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$159
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $118 by
1969, on its way to $159 in 1974; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1965.
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $159; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1974: $100 is worth $159 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1974/