$100 in 1964 is worth $810 in 2018,
because prices increased 710.0% over that period, an average of
3.95% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$810
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
710.0%
Average inflation rate
3.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$810
Price difference ($100 base)
$710
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1964 → 2018
$810
$100 in 2018 → 1964
$12.35
What happened to prices between 1964 and 2018
Between 1964 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 710.0%, which works out to an average of
3.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2018: the 1964 dollar
lost 87.7% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 2018 at the same ratio, 8.10: $1,000 becomes
$8,100, and $10,000 becomes $81,002.
Amount in 1964
Value in 2018
$1.00
$8.10
$5.00
$40.50
$10.00
$81.00
$20.00
$162
$50.00
$405
$100
$810
$500
$4,050
$1,000
$8,100
$5,000
$40,501
$10,000
$81,002
$100,000
$810,023
$1,000,000
$8,100,226
Inflation by spending category, 1964–2018
Between 1964 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 1870.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 165.7%, against 710.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.95%
$810
Medical care
5.68%
$1,970
Energy
4.31%
$978
Food
3.94%
$805
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.92%
$797
Transportation
3.59%
$671
Apparel
1.83%
$266
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$810
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $422 by
1990, on its way to $810 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $810; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1964 to 2018: $100 is worth $810 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-2018/