$100 in 1964 is worth $492 in 1995,
because prices increased 391.6% over that period, an average of
5.27% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$492
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
391.6%
Average inflation rate
5.27% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$492
Price difference ($100 base)
$392
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1964 → 1995
$492
$100 in 1995 → 1964
$20.34
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1995
Between 1964 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 391.6%, which works out to an average of
5.27% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.20 buys in 1995: the 1964 dollar
lost 79.7% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 1995 at the same ratio, 4.92: $1,000 becomes
$4,916, and $10,000 becomes $49,161.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1995
$1.00
$4.92
$5.00
$24.58
$10.00
$49.16
$20.00
$98.32
$50.00
$246
$100
$492
$500
$2,458
$1,000
$4,916
$5,000
$24,581
$10,000
$49,161
$100,000
$491,613
$1,000,000
$4,916,129
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1995
Between 1964 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 796.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 179.1%, against 391.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.27%
$492
Medical care
7.33%
$896
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.32%
$499
Food
5.13%
$471
Energy
5.10%
$468
Transportation
4.92%
$443
Apparel
3.37%
$279
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$492
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $266 by
1980, on its way to $492 in 1995; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1995
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $492; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1995: $100 is worth $492 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1995/