$100 in 1964 is worth $537 in 1999,
because prices increased 437.4% over that period, an average of
4.92% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$537
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
437.4%
Average inflation rate
4.92% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$537
Price difference ($100 base)
$437
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1964 → 1999
$537
$100 in 1999 → 1964
$18.61
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1999
Between 1964 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 437.4%, which works out to an average of
4.92% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.19 buys in 1999: the 1964 dollar
lost 81.4% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 1999 at the same ratio, 5.37: $1,000 becomes
$5,374, and $10,000 becomes $53,742.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1999
$1.00
$5.37
$5.00
$26.87
$10.00
$53.74
$20.00
$107
$50.00
$269
$100
$537
$500
$2,687
$1,000
$5,374
$5,000
$26,871
$10,000
$53,742
$100,000
$537,419
$1,000,000
$5,374,194
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1999
Between 1964 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 918.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 177.6%, against 437.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.92%
$537
Medical care
6.86%
$1,019
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.98%
$548
Food
4.83%
$521
Energy
4.54%
$474
Transportation
4.46%
$460
Apparel
2.96%
$278
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1999
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$537
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $311 by
1982, on its way to $537 in 1999; 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 1998.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $537; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 1999: $100 is worth $537 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1999/