$100 in 1964 is worth $266 in 1980,
because prices increased 165.8% over that period, an average of
6.30% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$266
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
165.8%
Average inflation rate
6.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$266
Price difference ($100 base)
$166
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1964 → 1980
$266
$100 in 1980 → 1964
$37.62
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1980
Between 1964 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 165.8%, which works out to an average of
6.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.38 buys in 1980: the 1964 dollar
lost 62.4% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 1980 at the same ratio, 2.66: $1,000 becomes
$2,658, and $10,000 becomes $26,581.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1980
$1.00
$2.66
$5.00
$13.29
$10.00
$26.58
$20.00
$53.16
$50.00
$133
$100
$266
$500
$1,329
$1,000
$2,658
$5,000
$13,290
$10,000
$26,581
$100,000
$265,806
$1,000,000
$2,658,065
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1980
Between 1964 and 1980, energy rose the most, up 282.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 92.2%, against 165.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.30%
$266
Energy
8.74%
$382
Medical care
7.21%
$304
Food
6.54%
$276
Transportation
6.27%
$265
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.90%
$250
Apparel
4.17%
$192
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.81% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1980 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1964, at end
1964–1970
3.81%
25.2%
$125
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$266
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $135 by
1972, on its way to $266 in 1980; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and the smallest rise was 1.6% in 1965.
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $266; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1980: $100 is worth $266 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1980/