$100 in 1964 is worth $195 in 1977,
because prices increased 95.5% over that period, an average of
5.29% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$195
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
95.5%
Average inflation rate
5.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$195
Price difference ($100 base)
$95.48
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1964 → 1977
$195
$100 in 1977 → 1964
$51.16
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1977
Between 1964 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 95.5%, which works out to an average of
5.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.51 buys in 1977: the 1964 dollar
lost 48.8% of its purchasing power over
these 13 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 1977 at the same ratio, 1.95: $1,000 becomes
$1,955, and $10,000 becomes $19,548.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1977
$1.00
$1.95
$5.00
$9.77
$10.00
$19.55
$20.00
$39.10
$50.00
$97.74
$100
$195
$500
$977
$1,000
$1,955
$5,000
$9,774
$10,000
$19,548
$100,000
$195,484
$1,000,000
$1,954,839
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1977
Between 1964 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 131.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 66.2%, against 95.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.29%
$195
Medical care
6.68%
$232
Energy
6.24%
$220
Food
5.79%
$208
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.01%
$189
Transportation
4.97%
$188
Apparel
3.98%
$166
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.81% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1977 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1964, at end
1964–1970
3.81%
25.2%
$125
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$195
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $125 by
1970, on its way to $195 in 1977; 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 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $195; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1977: $100 is worth $195 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1977/