$100 in 1964 is worth $466 in 1993,
because prices increased 366.1% over that period, an average of
5.45% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$466
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
366.1%
Average inflation rate
5.45% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$466
Price difference ($100 base)
$366
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1964 → 1993
$466
$100 in 1993 → 1964
$21.45
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1993
Between 1964 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 366.1%, which works out to an average of
5.45% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.21 buys in 1993: the 1964 dollar
lost 78.5% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 1993 at the same ratio, 4.66: $1,000 becomes
$4,661, and $10,000 becomes $46,613.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1993
$1.00
$4.66
$5.00
$23.31
$10.00
$46.61
$20.00
$93.23
$50.00
$233
$100
$466
$500
$2,331
$1,000
$4,661
$5,000
$23,306
$10,000
$46,613
$100,000
$466,129
$1,000,000
$4,661,290
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1993
Between 1964 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 718.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 182.7%, against 366.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.45%
$466
Medical care
7.52%
$819
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.49%
$471
Energy
5.43%
$463
Food
5.30%
$447
Transportation
5.03%
$415
Apparel
3.65%
$283
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1993
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.40% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1993 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
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$466
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $210 by
1978, on its way to $466 in 1993; 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 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $466; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1993: $100 is worth $466 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1993/