$100 in 1965 is worth $376 in 1988,
because prices increased 275.6% over that period, an average of
5.92% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$376
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
275.6%
Average inflation rate
5.92% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$376
Price difference ($100 base)
$276
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1965 → 1988
$376
$100 in 1988 → 1965
$26.63
What happened to prices between 1965 and 1988
Between 1965 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 275.6%, which works out to an average of
5.92% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1988: the 1965 dollar
lost 73.4% of its purchasing power over
these 23 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 1988 at the same ratio, 3.76: $1,000 becomes
$3,756, and $10,000 becomes $37,556.
Amount in 1965
Value in 1988
$1.00
$3.76
$5.00
$18.78
$10.00
$37.56
$20.00
$75.11
$50.00
$188
$100
$376
$500
$1,878
$1,000
$3,756
$5,000
$18,778
$10,000
$37,556
$100,000
$375,556
$1,000,000
$3,755,556
Inflation by spending category, 1965–1988
Between 1965 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 450.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 141.4%, against 275.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.92%
$376
Medical care
7.69%
$550
Energy
6.10%
$390
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.94%
$377
Food
5.82%
$367
Transportation
5.47%
$341
Apparel
3.91%
$241
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 1988
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 1965–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$376
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $181 by
1976, on its way to $376 in 1988; 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 1.9% in 1986.
In 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $376; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 1988: $100 is worth $376 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-1988/