$100 in 1964 is worth $184 in 1976,
because prices increased 83.5% over that period, an average of
5.19% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$184
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
83.5%
Average inflation rate
5.19% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$184
Price difference ($100 base)
$83.55
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1964 → 1976
$184
$100 in 1976 → 1964
$54.48
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1976
Between 1964 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 83.5%, which works out to an average of
5.19% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.54 buys in 1976: the 1964 dollar
lost 45.5% of its purchasing power over
these 12 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 1976 at the same ratio, 1.84: $1,000 becomes
$1,835, and $10,000 becomes $18,355.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1976
$1.00
$1.84
$5.00
$9.18
$10.00
$18.35
$20.00
$36.71
$50.00
$91.77
$100
$184
$500
$918
$1,000
$1,835
$5,000
$9,177
$10,000
$18,355
$100,000
$183,548
$1,000,000
$1,835,484
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1976
Between 1964 and 1976, medical care rose the most, up 111.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 59.0%, against 83.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.19%
$184
Medical care
6.44%
$211
Energy
5.97%
$200
Food
5.75%
$196
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.91%
$178
Transportation
4.80%
$175
Apparel
3.94%
$159
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.81% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1976 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1964, at end
1964–1970
3.81%
25.2%
$125
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$184
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $125 by
1970, on its way to $184 in 1976; 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 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $184; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1976: $100 is worth $184 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1976/