$100 in 1964 is worth $741 in 2012,
because prices increased 640.6% over that period, an average of
4.26% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$741
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
640.6%
Average inflation rate
4.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$741
Price difference ($100 base)
$641
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1964 → 2012
$741
$100 in 2012 → 1964
$13.50
What happened to prices between 1964 and 2012
Between 1964 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 640.6%, which works out to an average of
4.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2012: the 1964 dollar
lost 86.5% of its purchasing power over
these 48 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 2012 at the same ratio, 7.41: $1,000 becomes
$7,406, and $10,000 becomes $74,063.
Amount in 1964
Value in 2012
$1.00
$7.41
$5.00
$37.03
$10.00
$74.06
$20.00
$148
$50.00
$370
$100
$741
$500
$3,703
$1,000
$7,406
$5,000
$37,031
$10,000
$74,063
$100,000
$740,626
$1,000,000
$7,406,258
Inflation by spending category, 1964–2012
Between 1964 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 1586.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 166.9%, against 640.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.26%
$741
Medical care
6.06%
$1,687
Energy
5.11%
$1,094
Food
4.26%
$742
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.17%
$711
Transportation
4.11%
$692
Apparel
2.07%
$267
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 2012
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 1964–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$741
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $382 by
1988, on its way to $741 in 2012; 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: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $741; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 2012: $100 is worth $741 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-2012/