$100 in 1966 is worth $125 in 1971,
because prices increased 25.0% over that period, an average of
4.56% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$125
in 1971
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
25.0%
Average inflation rate
4.56% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$125
Price difference ($100 base)
$25.00
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1971
40.5
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
$100 in 1966 → 1971
$125
$100 in 1971 → 1966
$80.00
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1971
Between 1966 and 1971, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 40.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 25.0%, which works out to an average of
4.56% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.80 buys in 1971: the 1966 dollar
lost 20.0% of its purchasing power over
these 5 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
Every 1966 amount converts to 1971 at the same ratio, 1.25: $1,000 becomes
$1,250, and $10,000 becomes $12,500.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1971
$1.00
$1.25
$5.00
$6.25
$10.00
$12.50
$20.00
$25.00
$50.00
$62.50
$100
$125
$500
$625
$1,000
$1,250
$5,000
$6,250
$10,000
$12,500
$100,000
$125,000
$1,000,000
$1,250,000
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1971
Between 1966 and 1971, medical care rose the most, up 37.3%, while energy rose the least, up 13.7%, against 25.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1971, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.56%
$125
Medical care
6.54%
$137
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.97%
$127
Apparel
4.51%
$125
Transportation
4.11%
$122
Food
3.63%
$120
Energy
2.61%
$114
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1971
Prices climbed fastest in the 1960s, averaging 4.61% a year, and slowest in the 1970s (4.38% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1971 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1966, at end
1966–1970
4.61%
19.8%
$120
1970–1971
4.38%
4.4%
$125
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $107 by
1968, on its way to $125 in 1971; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 5.7% in 1970, and the smallest rise was 3.1% in 1967.
In 1971, prices rose 4.4% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $125; the year's average CPI of 40.5 is the level
behind every 1971 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1971: $100 is worth $125 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1971/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1971. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1971/