$100 in 1964 is worth $321 in 1983,
because prices increased 221.3% over that period, an average of
6.34% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$321
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
221.3%
Average inflation rate
6.34% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$321
Price difference ($100 base)
$221
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1964 → 1983
$321
$100 in 1983 → 1964
$31.12
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1983
Between 1964 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 221.3%, which works out to an average of
6.34% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.31 buys in 1983: the 1964 dollar
lost 68.9% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 1983 at the same ratio, 3.21: $1,000 becomes
$3,213, and $10,000 becomes $32,129.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1983
$1.00
$3.21
$5.00
$16.06
$10.00
$32.13
$20.00
$64.26
$50.00
$161
$100
$321
$500
$1,606
$1,000
$3,213
$5,000
$16,065
$10,000
$32,129
$100,000
$321,290
$1,000,000
$3,212,903
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1983
Between 1964 and 1983, energy rose the most, up 344.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 111.8%, against 221.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.34%
$321
Energy
8.16%
$444
Medical care
7.69%
$409
Transportation
6.25%
$316
Food
6.23%
$316
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.11%
$308
Apparel
4.03%
$212
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1983
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 1964–1983 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
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$321
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $143 by
1973, on its way to $321 in 1983; 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 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $321; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1983: $100 is worth $321 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1983/