$100 in 1965 is worth $262 in 1980,
because prices increased 161.6% over that period, an average of
6.62% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$262
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
161.6%
Average inflation rate
6.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$262
Price difference ($100 base)
$162
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1965 → 1980
$262
$100 in 1980 → 1965
$38.23
What happened to prices between 1965 and 1980
Between 1965 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 161.6%, which works out to an average of
6.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.38 buys in 1980: the 1965 dollar
lost 61.8% of its purchasing power over
these 15 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 1980 at the same ratio, 2.62: $1,000 becomes
$2,616, and $10,000 becomes $26,159.
Amount in 1965
Value in 1980
$1.00
$2.62
$5.00
$13.08
$10.00
$26.16
$20.00
$52.32
$50.00
$131
$100
$262
$500
$1,308
$1,000
$2,616
$5,000
$13,079
$10,000
$26,159
$100,000
$261,587
$1,000,000
$2,615,873
Inflation by spending category, 1965–1980
Between 1965 and 1980, energy rose the most, up 275.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 90.2%, against 161.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.62%
$262
Energy
9.22%
$376
Medical care
7.53%
$297
Food
6.83%
$270
Transportation
6.59%
$261
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.22%
$247
Apparel
4.38%
$190
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (4.26% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1965–1980 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1965, at end
1965–1970
4.26%
23.2%
$123
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$262
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $133 by
1972, on its way to $262 in 1980; 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 the smallest rise was 2.9% in 1966.
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $262; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 1980: $100 is worth $262 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-1980/