$100 in 1964 is worth $518 in 1997,
because prices increased 417.7% over that period, an average of
5.11% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$518
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
417.7%
Average inflation rate
5.11% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$518
Price difference ($100 base)
$418
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1964 → 1997
$518
$100 in 1997 → 1964
$19.31
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1997
Between 1964 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 417.7%, which works out to an average of
5.11% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.19 buys in 1997: the 1964 dollar
lost 80.7% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 1997 at the same ratio, 5.18: $1,000 becomes
$5,177, and $10,000 becomes $51,774.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1997
$1.00
$5.18
$5.00
$25.89
$10.00
$51.77
$20.00
$104
$50.00
$259
$100
$518
$500
$2,589
$1,000
$5,177
$5,000
$25,887
$10,000
$51,774
$100,000
$517,742
$1,000,000
$5,177,419
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1997
Between 1964 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 853.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 181.0%, against 417.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.11%
$518
Medical care
7.07%
$954
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.15%
$525
Food
4.99%
$499
Energy
4.97%
$496
Transportation
4.73%
$460
Apparel
3.18%
$281
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1997
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.98% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$518
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $266 by
1980, on its way to $518 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $518; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1997: $100 is worth $518 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1997/