$100 in 1965 is worth $684 in 2008,
because prices increased 583.5% over that period, an average of
4.57% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$684
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
583.5%
Average inflation rate
4.57% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$684
Price difference ($100 base)
$584
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1965 → 2008
$684
$100 in 2008 → 1965
$14.63
What happened to prices between 1965 and 2008
Between 1965 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 583.5%, which works out to an average of
4.57% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.15 buys in 2008: the 1965 dollar
lost 85.4% of its purchasing power over
these 43 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 2008 at the same ratio, 6.84: $1,000 becomes
$6,835, and $10,000 becomes $68,350.
Amount in 1965
Value in 2008
$1.00
$6.84
$5.00
$34.18
$10.00
$68.35
$20.00
$137
$50.00
$342
$100
$684
$500
$3,418
$1,000
$6,835
$5,000
$34,175
$10,000
$68,350
$100,000
$683,502
$1,000,000
$6,835,016
Inflation by spending category, 1965–2008
Between 1965 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 1344.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 148.8%, against 583.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.57%
$684
Medical care
6.41%
$1,445
Energy
5.58%
$1,033
Food
4.50%
$665
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.48%
$659
Transportation
4.31%
$613
Apparel
2.14%
$249
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 2008
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 1965–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$684
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $361 by
1987, on its way to $684 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $684; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 2008: $100 is worth $684 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2008/