$100 in 1965 is worth $740 in 2013,
because prices increased 639.5% over that period, an average of
4.26% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$740
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
639.5%
Average inflation rate
4.26% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$740
Price difference ($100 base)
$640
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1965 → 2013
$740
$100 in 2013 → 1965
$13.52
What happened to prices between 1965 and 2013
Between 1965 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 639.5%, which works out to an average of
4.26% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2013: the 1965 dollar
lost 86.5% of its purchasing power over
these 48 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 2013 at the same ratio, 7.40: $1,000 becomes
$7,395, and $10,000 becomes $73,955.
Amount in 1965
Value in 2013
$1.00
$7.40
$5.00
$36.98
$10.00
$73.95
$20.00
$148
$50.00
$370
$100
$740
$500
$3,698
$1,000
$7,395
$5,000
$36,977
$10,000
$73,955
$100,000
$739,546
$1,000,000
$7,395,460
Inflation by spending category, 1965–2013
Between 1965 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 1587.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 166.6%, against 639.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.26%
$740
Medical care
6.06%
$1,687
Energy
5.06%
$1,067
Food
4.25%
$736
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.18%
$715
Transportation
4.08%
$682
Apparel
2.06%
$267
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 2013
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1965–2013 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$692
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$740
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $394 by
1989, on its way to $740 in 2013; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $740; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 2013: $100 is worth $740 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2013/