$100 in 1966 is worth $137 in 1973,
because prices increased 37.0% over that period, an average of
4.60% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$137
in 1973
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
37.0%
Average inflation rate
4.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$137
Price difference ($100 base)
$37.04
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1973
44.4
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1973
6.22%
$100 in 1966 → 1973
$137
$100 in 1973 → 1966
$72.97
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1973
Between 1966 and 1973, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 44.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 37.0%, which works out to an average of
4.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.73 buys in 1973: the 1966 dollar
lost 27.0% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 1973 at the same ratio, 1.37: $1,000 becomes
$1,370, and $10,000 becomes $13,704.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1973
$1.00
$1.37
$5.00
$6.85
$10.00
$13.70
$20.00
$27.41
$50.00
$68.52
$100
$137
$500
$685
$1,000
$1,370
$5,000
$6,852
$10,000
$13,704
$100,000
$137,037
$1,000,000
$1,370,370
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1973
Between 1966 and 1973, medical care rose the most, up 47.5%, while energy rose the least, up 26.2%, against 37.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1973, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.60%
$137
Medical care
5.71%
$148
Food
5.20%
$143
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.50%
$136
Apparel
4.03%
$132
Transportation
3.54%
$128
Energy
3.38%
$126
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1973
Prices climbed fastest in the 1960s, averaging 4.61% a year, and slowest in the 1970s (4.60% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1973 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1966, at end
1966–1970
4.61%
19.8%
$120
1970–1973
4.60%
14.4%
$137
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $113 by
1969, on its way to $137 in 1973; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 6.2% in 1973, and the smallest rise was 3.1% in 1967.
In 1973, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $137; the year's average CPI of 44.4 is the level
behind every 1973 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.2% in 1973, nearly double 1972’s 3.2%,
as Nixon’s wage and price controls were phased out through the year and
pressure the controls had been holding back broke loose. The bigger shock
arrived that October, when Arab oil-producing states embargoed exports to the
United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Crude
oil, which had traded around $3 a barrel, approached $12 by early 1974, and
gas lines became a fixture outside filling stations nationwide. Earlier in
the year, the Paris Peace Accords, signed that January 27, ended direct
American combat in Vietnam and set a 60-day deadline for withdrawing
remaining U.S. troops, even as fighting between North and South Vietnam went
on. Financial markets read the year correctly as a turning point: the Dow
Jones Industrial Average peaked at 1,051.70 on January 11, a level it would
not reach again until 1980, before the oil shock and rising interest rates
dragged it into a two-year bear market. A median household earned $10,512 in
1973, a new home sold for a median $32,500, and gas averaged 38.5 cents a
gallon, still under half of what the embargo’s effects would bring the
following year. Consumer prices stood 348.5% above their
1913 level by year’s end, with the decade’s worst inflation
still ahead.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1973: $100 is worth $137 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1973/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1973. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1973/