$100 in 1964 is worth $791 in 2017,
because prices increased 690.7% over that period, an average of
3.98% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$791
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
690.7%
Average inflation rate
3.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$791
Price difference ($100 base)
$691
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1964 → 2017
$791
$100 in 2017 → 1964
$12.65
What happened to prices between 1964 and 2017
Between 1964 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 690.7%, which works out to an average of
3.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2017: the 1964 dollar
lost 87.4% of its purchasing power over
these 53 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 2017 at the same ratio, 7.91: $1,000 becomes
$7,907, and $10,000 becomes $79,071.
Amount in 1964
Value in 2017
$1.00
$7.91
$5.00
$39.54
$10.00
$79.07
$20.00
$158
$50.00
$395
$100
$791
$500
$3,954
$1,000
$7,907
$5,000
$39,535
$10,000
$79,071
$100,000
$790,710
$1,000,000
$7,907,097
Inflation by spending category, 1964–2017
Between 1964 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 1832.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 165.6%, against 690.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.98%
$791
Medical care
5.75%
$1,932
Energy
4.25%
$909
Food
3.99%
$794
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.95%
$781
Transportation
3.57%
$642
Apparel
1.86%
$266
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$791
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $422 by
1990, on its way to $791 in 2017; 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: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $791; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 2017: $100 is worth $791 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-2017/