$100 in 1965 is worth $562 in 2001,
because prices increased 462.2% over that period, an average of
4.91% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$562
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
462.2%
Average inflation rate
4.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$562
Price difference ($100 base)
$462
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1965 → 2001
$562
$100 in 2001 → 1965
$17.79
What happened to prices between 1965 and 2001
Between 1965 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 462.2%, which works out to an average of
4.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.18 buys in 2001: the 1965 dollar
lost 82.2% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 2001 at the same ratio, 5.62: $1,000 becomes
$5,622, and $10,000 becomes $56,222.
Amount in 1965
Value in 2001
$1.00
$5.62
$5.00
$28.11
$10.00
$56.22
$20.00
$112
$50.00
$281
$100
$562
$500
$2,811
$1,000
$5,622
$5,000
$28,111
$10,000
$56,222
$100,000
$562,222
$1,000,000
$5,622,222
Inflation by spending category, 1965–2001
Between 1965 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 982.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 166.3%, against 462.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.91%
$562
Medical care
6.84%
$1,083
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.95%
$569
Energy
4.93%
$565
Food
4.78%
$538
Transportation
4.48%
$484
Apparel
2.76%
$266
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 2001
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1965–2001 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$415
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$547
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$562
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $316 by
1983, on its way to $562 in 2001; 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 1.6% in 1998.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $562; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 2001: $100 is worth $562 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2001/