$100 in 1964 is worth $311 in 1982,
because prices increased 211.3% over that period, an average of
6.51% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$311
in 1982
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
211.3%
Average inflation rate
6.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$311
Price difference ($100 base)
$211
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1982
96.5
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1982
6.16%
$100 in 1964 → 1982
$311
$100 in 1982 → 1964
$32.12
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1982
Between 1964 and 1982, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 96.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 211.3%, which works out to an average of
6.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.32 buys in 1982: the 1964 dollar
lost 67.9% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 1982 at the same ratio, 3.11: $1,000 becomes
$3,113, and $10,000 becomes $31,129.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1982
$1.00
$3.11
$5.00
$15.56
$10.00
$31.13
$20.00
$62.26
$50.00
$156
$100
$311
$500
$1,556
$1,000
$3,113
$5,000
$15,565
$10,000
$31,129
$100,000
$311,290
$1,000,000
$3,112,903
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1982
Between 1964 and 1982, energy rose the most, up 340.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 106.8%, against 211.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1982, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.51%
$311
Energy
8.59%
$441
Medical care
7.64%
$376
Food
6.47%
$309
Transportation
6.47%
$309
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.23%
$297
Apparel
4.12%
$207
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1982
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 8.22% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.81% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1982 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
1980–1982
8.22%
17.1%
$311
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $143 by
1973, on its way to $311 in 1982; 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 1982, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $311; the year's average CPI of 96.5 is the level
behind every 1982 figure on this page.
1982 was the hard bottom of the disinflation Paul Volcker had set in motion.
Consumer prices rose just 6.2% for the year, roughly half of 1981’s rate and a
fraction of the 13.5% peak from two years earlier. The price fell because
demand had been crushed: the recession that began in July 1981 did not
officially end until November 1982, and unemployment kept climbing even as
the economy technically began to recover, reaching 10.8% in November and
December, the highest rate since the Great Depression. Manufacturing and
construction, especially the auto and housing industries starved of credit by
double-digit interest rates, bore the worst of it. Abroad, Mexico’s August
announcement that it could not service its foreign debt opened a Latin
American debt crisis that spread across the region and forced the Federal
Reserve and IMF into emergency lending. The stress on the financial system
pushed Volcker to start easing interest rates that October, stepping back
from the strict money-supply targets he had followed since 1979. Markets read
the shift correctly: the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed at 776.92 in
mid-August, and the rally that followed became the opening leg of the 1980s
bull market. By year’s end, the trade-off Volcker had bet on was becoming
visible: much lower inflation, at the cost of the worst unemployment in 40
years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1982: $100 is worth $311 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1982/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1982. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1982/