$100 in 1964 is worth $765 in 2015,
because prices increased 664.6% over that period, an average of
4.07% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$765
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
664.6%
Average inflation rate
4.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$765
Price difference ($100 base)
$665
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1964 → 2015
$765
$100 in 2015 → 1964
$13.08
What happened to prices between 1964 and 2015
Between 1964 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 664.6%, which works out to an average of
4.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2015: the 1964 dollar
lost 86.9% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 2015 at the same ratio, 7.65: $1,000 becomes
$7,646, and $10,000 becomes $76,457.
Amount in 1964
Value in 2015
$1.00
$7.65
$5.00
$38.23
$10.00
$76.46
$20.00
$153
$50.00
$382
$100
$765
$500
$3,823
$1,000
$7,646
$5,000
$38,229
$10,000
$76,457
$100,000
$764,571
$1,000,000
$7,645,710
Inflation by spending category, 1964–2015
Between 1964 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 1716.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 166.2%, against 664.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.07%
$765
Medical care
5.85%
$1,816
Energy
4.41%
$902
Food
4.12%
$785
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.03%
$750
Transportation
3.69%
$634
Apparel
1.94%
$266
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$765
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $422 by
1990, on its way to $765 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $765; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 2015: $100 is worth $765 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-2015/