$100 in 1964 is worth $439 in 1991,
because prices increased 339.4% over that period, an average of
5.64% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$439
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
339.4%
Average inflation rate
5.64% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$439
Price difference ($100 base)
$339
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1964 → 1991
$439
$100 in 1991 → 1964
$22.76
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1991
Between 1964 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 339.4%, which works out to an average of
5.64% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.23 buys in 1991: the 1964 dollar
lost 77.2% of its purchasing power over
these 27 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 1991 at the same ratio, 4.39: $1,000 becomes
$4,394, and $10,000 becomes $43,935.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1991
$1.00
$4.39
$5.00
$21.97
$10.00
$43.94
$20.00
$87.87
$50.00
$220
$100
$439
$500
$2,197
$1,000
$4,394
$5,000
$21,968
$10,000
$43,935
$100,000
$439,355
$1,000,000
$4,393,548
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1991
Between 1964 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 619.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 172.1%, against 339.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.64%
$439
Medical care
7.58%
$720
Energy
5.78%
$456
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.64%
$440
Food
5.58%
$433
Transportation
5.21%
$394
Apparel
3.78%
$272
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1991
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 1964–1991 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$422
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$439
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $195 by
1977, on its way to $439 in 1991; 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 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $439; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1991: $100 is worth $439 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1991/