$100 in 1964 is worth $354 in 1986,
because prices increased 253.5% over that period, an average of
5.91% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$354
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
253.5%
Average inflation rate
5.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$354
Price difference ($100 base)
$254
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1964 → 1986
$354
$100 in 1986 → 1964
$28.28
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1986
Between 1964 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 253.5%, which works out to an average of
5.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.28 buys in 1986: the 1964 dollar
lost 71.7% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 1986 at the same ratio, 3.54: $1,000 becomes
$3,535, and $10,000 becomes $35,355.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1986
$1.00
$3.54
$5.00
$17.68
$10.00
$35.35
$20.00
$70.71
$50.00
$177
$100
$354
$500
$1,768
$1,000
$3,535
$5,000
$17,677
$10,000
$35,355
$100,000
$353,548
$1,000,000
$3,535,484
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1986
Between 1964 and 1986, medical care rose the most, up 395.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 123.9%, against 253.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.91%
$354
Medical care
7.55%
$496
Energy
6.41%
$392
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.88%
$351
Food
5.80%
$346
Transportation
5.52%
$326
Apparel
3.73%
$224
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1986
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 1964–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$354
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $174 by
1975, on its way to $354 in 1986; 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 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $354; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1986: $100 is worth $354 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1986/