$100 in 1965 is worth $797 in 2018,
because prices increased 697.2% over that period, an average of
3.99% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$797
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
697.2%
Average inflation rate
3.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$797
Price difference ($100 base)
$697
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1965 → 2018
$797
$100 in 2018 → 1965
$12.54
What happened to prices between 1965 and 2018
Between 1965 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 697.2%, which works out to an average of
3.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2018: the 1965 dollar
lost 87.5% of its purchasing power over
these 53 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 2018 at the same ratio, 7.97: $1,000 becomes
$7,972, and $10,000 becomes $79,717.
Amount in 1965
Value in 2018
$1.00
$7.97
$5.00
$39.86
$10.00
$79.72
$20.00
$159
$50.00
$399
$100
$797
$500
$3,986
$1,000
$7,972
$5,000
$39,858
$10,000
$79,717
$100,000
$797,165
$1,000,000
$7,971,651
Inflation by spending category, 1965–2018
Between 1965 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 1823.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 162.9%, against 697.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.99%
$797
Medical care
5.74%
$1,923
Energy
4.36%
$960
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.97%
$788
Food
3.97%
$787
Transportation
3.63%
$660
Apparel
1.84%
$263
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1965–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$797
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $432 by
1991, on its way to $797 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $797; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 2018: $100 is worth $797 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2018/