$100 in 1964 is worth $347 in 1985,
because prices increased 247.1% over that period, an average of
6.10% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$347
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
247.1%
Average inflation rate
6.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$347
Price difference ($100 base)
$247
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1964 → 1985
$347
$100 in 1985 → 1964
$28.81
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1985
Between 1964 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 247.1%, which works out to an average of
6.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.29 buys in 1985: the 1964 dollar
lost 71.2% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 1985 at the same ratio, 3.47: $1,000 becomes
$3,471, and $10,000 becomes $34,710.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1985
$1.00
$3.47
$5.00
$17.35
$10.00
$34.71
$20.00
$69.42
$50.00
$174
$100
$347
$500
$1,735
$1,000
$3,471
$5,000
$17,355
$10,000
$34,710
$100,000
$347,097
$1,000,000
$3,470,968
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1985
Between 1964 and 1985, medical care rose the most, up 361.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 122.0%, against 247.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.10%
$347
Medical care
7.55%
$461
Energy
7.44%
$452
Transportation
5.98%
$339
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.97%
$338
Food
5.93%
$335
Apparel
3.87%
$222
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1985
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 1964–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$347
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $159 by
1974, on its way to $347 in 1985; 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 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $347; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1985: $100 is worth $347 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1985/