$100 in 1965 is worth $192 in 1977,
because prices increased 92.4% over that period, an average of
5.60% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$192
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
92.4%
Average inflation rate
5.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$192
Price difference ($100 base)
$92.38
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1965 → 1977
$192
$100 in 1977 → 1965
$51.98
What happened to prices between 1965 and 1977
Between 1965 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 92.4%, which works out to an average of
5.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.52 buys in 1977: the 1965 dollar
lost 48.0% of its purchasing power over
these 12 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
Every 1965 amount converts to 1977 at the same ratio, 1.92: $1,000 becomes
$1,924, and $10,000 becomes $19,238.
Amount in 1965
Value in 1977
$1.00
$1.92
$5.00
$9.62
$10.00
$19.24
$20.00
$38.48
$50.00
$96.19
$100
$192
$500
$962
$1,000
$1,924
$5,000
$9,619
$10,000
$19,238
$100,000
$192,381
$1,000,000
$1,923,810
Inflation by spending category, 1965–1977
Between 1965 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 126.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 64.4%, against 92.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.60%
$192
Medical care
7.04%
$226
Energy
6.62%
$216
Food
6.10%
$203
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.33%
$187
Transportation
5.26%
$185
Apparel
4.23%
$164
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (4.26% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1965–1977 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1965, at end
1965–1970
4.26%
23.2%
$123
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$192
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $129 by
1971, on its way to $192 in 1977; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and the smallest rise was 2.9% in 1966.
In 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $192; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 1977: $100 is worth $192 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-1977/