$100 in 1965 is worth $658 in 2007,
because prices increased 558.2% over that period, an average of
4.59% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$658
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
558.2%
Average inflation rate
4.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$658
Price difference ($100 base)
$558
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1965 → 2007
$658
$100 in 2007 → 1965
$15.19
What happened to prices between 1965 and 2007
Between 1965 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 558.2%, which works out to an average of
4.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.15 buys in 2007: the 1965 dollar
lost 84.8% of its purchasing power over
these 42 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 2007 at the same ratio, 6.58: $1,000 becomes
$6,582, and $10,000 becomes $65,823.
Amount in 1965
Value in 2007
$1.00
$6.58
$5.00
$32.91
$10.00
$65.82
$20.00
$132
$50.00
$329
$100
$658
$500
$3,291
$1,000
$6,582
$5,000
$32,911
$10,000
$65,823
$100,000
$658,229
$1,000,000
$6,582,286
Inflation by spending category, 1965–2007
Between 1965 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 1293.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 148.9%, against 558.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.59%
$658
Medical care
6.47%
$1,393
Energy
5.39%
$907
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.54%
$644
Food
4.48%
$630
Transportation
4.27%
$579
Apparel
2.20%
$249
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1965–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$658
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $342 by
1985, on its way to $658 in 2007; 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: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $658; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 2007: $100 is worth $658 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2007/