$100 in 1965 is worth $752 in 2014,
because prices increased 651.5% over that period, an average of
4.20% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$752
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
651.5%
Average inflation rate
4.20% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$752
Price difference ($100 base)
$652
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1965 → 2014
$752
$100 in 2014 → 1965
$13.31
What happened to prices between 1965 and 2014
Between 1965 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 651.5%, which works out to an average of
4.20% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2014: the 1965 dollar
lost 86.7% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 2014 at the same ratio, 7.52: $1,000 becomes
$7,515, and $10,000 becomes $75,154.
Amount in 1965
Value in 2014
$1.00
$7.52
$5.00
$37.58
$10.00
$75.15
$20.00
$150
$50.00
$376
$100
$752
$500
$3,758
$1,000
$7,515
$5,000
$37,577
$10,000
$75,154
$100,000
$751,543
$1,000,000
$7,515,429
Inflation by spending category, 1965–2014
Between 1965 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 1627.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 166.8%, against 651.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.20%
$752
Medical care
5.99%
$1,727
Energy
4.94%
$1,064
Food
4.21%
$754
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.13%
$728
Transportation
3.98%
$677
Apparel
2.02%
$267
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 2014
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1965–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$752
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $394 by
1989, on its way to $752 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $752; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 2014: $100 is worth $752 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2014/