$100 in 1964 is worth $382 in 1988,
because prices increased 281.6% over that period, an average of
5.74% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$382
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
281.6%
Average inflation rate
5.74% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$382
Price difference ($100 base)
$282
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1964 → 1988
$382
$100 in 1988 → 1964
$26.20
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1988
Between 1964 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 281.6%, which works out to an average of
5.74% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.26 buys in 1988: the 1964 dollar
lost 73.8% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 1988 at the same ratio, 3.82: $1,000 becomes
$3,816, and $10,000 becomes $38,161.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1988
$1.00
$3.82
$5.00
$19.08
$10.00
$38.16
$20.00
$76.32
$50.00
$191
$100
$382
$500
$1,908
$1,000
$3,816
$5,000
$19,081
$10,000
$38,161
$100,000
$381,613
$1,000,000
$3,816,129
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1988
Between 1964 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 463.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 144.0%, against 281.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.74%
$382
Medical care
7.47%
$563
Energy
5.91%
$397
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.74%
$382
Food
5.66%
$375
Transportation
5.31%
$346
Apparel
3.79%
$244
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1988
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 1964–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$382
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $184 by
1976, on its way to $382 in 1988; 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 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $382; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1988: $100 is worth $382 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1988/