$100 in 1965 is worth $812 in 2019,
because prices increased 711.6% over that period, an average of
3.95% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$812
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
711.6%
Average inflation rate
3.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$812
Price difference ($100 base)
$712
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1965 → 2019
$812
$100 in 2019 → 1965
$12.32
What happened to prices between 1965 and 2019
Between 1965 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 711.6%, which works out to an average of
3.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2019: the 1965 dollar
lost 87.7% of its purchasing power over
these 54 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 2019 at the same ratio, 8.12: $1,000 becomes
$8,116, and $10,000 becomes $81,161.
Amount in 1965
Value in 2019
$1.00
$8.12
$5.00
$40.58
$10.00
$81.16
$20.00
$162
$50.00
$406
$100
$812
$500
$4,058
$1,000
$8,116
$5,000
$40,580
$10,000
$81,161
$100,000
$811,610
$1,000,000
$8,116,095
Inflation by spending category, 1965–2019
Between 1965 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 1877.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 159.5%, against 711.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.95%
$812
Medical care
5.68%
$1,978
Energy
4.24%
$940
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.94%
$805
Food
3.93%
$802
Transportation
3.55%
$659
Apparel
1.78%
$260
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 2019
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 1965–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$812
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $432 by
1991, on its way to $812 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $812; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1965 to 2019: $100 is worth $812 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-2019/