$100 in 1964 is worth $703 in 2010,
because prices increased 603.4% over that period, an average of
4.33% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$703
in 2010
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
603.4%
Average inflation rate
4.33% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$703
Price difference ($100 base)
$603
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 2010
218.056
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 2010
1.64%
$100 in 1964 → 2010
$703
$100 in 2010 → 1964
$14.22
What happened to prices between 1964 and 2010
Between 1964 and 2010, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 218.056.
Cumulatively, prices increased 603.4%, which works out to an average of
4.33% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2010: the 1964 dollar
lost 85.8% of its purchasing power over
these 46 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 2010 at the same ratio, 7.03: $1,000 becomes
$7,034, and $10,000 becomes $70,341.
Amount in 1964
Value in 2010
$1.00
$7.03
$5.00
$35.17
$10.00
$70.34
$20.00
$141
$50.00
$352
$100
$703
$500
$3,517
$1,000
$7,034
$5,000
$35,170
$10,000
$70,341
$100,000
$703,406
$1,000,000
$7,034,065
Inflation by spending category, 1964–2010
Between 1964 and 2010, medical care rose the most, up 1479.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 152.6%, against 603.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 2010, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.33%
$703
Medical care
6.18%
$1,579
Energy
4.99%
$940
Food
4.31%
$697
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.27%
$685
Transportation
4.03%
$616
Apparel
2.04%
$253
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 2010
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–2010 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$555
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$703
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $354 by
1986, on its way to $703 in 2010; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2010
In 2010, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $703; the year's average CPI of 218.056 is the level
behind every 2010 figure on this page.
2010 was a year of recovery without much price pressure. The CPI rose 1.6%, a
return to growth after 2009’s deflation, with gasoline averaging $2.78 a
gallon as energy prices climbed back from their recession lows. Housing costs
barely moved: millions of foreclosed and vacant homes kept rents soft, and the
median new home sold for about $221,800. The federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, the level set in July 2009, and a first-class stamp cost 44 cents.
The Federal Reserve was more worried about too little inflation than too
much. Its policy rate sat at 0–0.25%, and in November it announced a further
$600 billion of Treasury purchases to hold down long-term borrowing costs.
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in July to tighten financial regulation,
while a 110 billion euro rescue of Greece in May showed that the crisis had
moved from American mortgages to European government debt. For anyone
comparing dollars across the decade, 2010 is a useful baseline: prices were
still close to their 2008 levels, and the years ahead brought a slow, steady
climb.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 2010: $100 is worth $703 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-2010/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 2010. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-2010/