$100 in 1964 is worth $293 in 1981,
because prices increased 193.2% over that period, an average of
6.53% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$293
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
193.2%
Average inflation rate
6.53% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$293
Price difference ($100 base)
$193
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1964 → 1981
$293
$100 in 1981 → 1964
$34.10
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1981
Between 1964 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 193.2%, which works out to an average of
6.53% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.34 buys in 1981: the 1964 dollar
lost 65.9% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 1981 at the same ratio, 2.93: $1,000 becomes
$2,932, and $10,000 becomes $29,323.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1981
$1.00
$2.93
$5.00
$14.66
$10.00
$29.32
$20.00
$58.65
$50.00
$147
$100
$293
$500
$1,466
$1,000
$2,932
$5,000
$14,661
$10,000
$29,323
$100,000
$293,226
$1,000,000
$2,932,258
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1981
Between 1964 and 1981, energy rose the most, up 334.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 101.5%, against 193.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.53%
$293
Energy
9.02%
$434
Medical care
7.41%
$337
Food
6.62%
$297
Transportation
6.61%
$297
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.16%
$276
Apparel
4.21%
$201
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.81% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1981 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
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$293
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $135 by
1972, on its way to $293 in 1981; 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 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $293; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1981: $100 is worth $293 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1981/