$100 in 1965 is worth $762 in 2016,
because prices increased 661.9% over that period, an average of
4.06% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$762
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
661.9%
Average inflation rate
4.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$762
Price difference ($100 base)
$662
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1965 → 2016
$762
$100 in 2016 → 1965
$13.12
What happened to prices between 1965 and 2016
Between 1965 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 661.9%, which works out to an average of
4.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2016: the 1965 dollar
lost 86.9% of its purchasing power over
these 51 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 2016 at the same ratio, 7.62: $1,000 becomes
$7,619, and $10,000 becomes $76,193.
Amount in 1965
Value in 2016
$1.00
$7.62
$5.00
$38.10
$10.00
$76.19
$20.00
$152
$50.00
$381
$100
$762
$500
$3,810
$1,000
$7,619
$5,000
$38,096
$10,000
$76,193
$100,000
$761,927
$1,000,000
$7,619,270
Inflation by spending category, 1965–2016
Between 1965 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 1740.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 163.7%, against 661.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.06%
$762
Medical care
5.88%
$1,840
Energy
4.23%
$828
Food
4.08%
$770
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.05%
$757
Transportation
3.61%
$611
Apparel
1.92%
$264
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1965–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$762
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $432 by
1991, on its way to $762 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $762; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 2016: $100 is worth $762 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2016/