$100 in 1966 is worth $166 in 1975,
because prices increased 66.0% over that period, an average of
5.80% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$166
in 1975
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
66.0%
Average inflation rate
5.80% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$166
Price difference ($100 base)
$66.05
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1975
53.8
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
$100 in 1966 → 1975
$166
$100 in 1975 → 1966
$60.22
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1975
Between 1966 and 1975, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 53.8.
Cumulatively, prices increased 66.0%, which works out to an average of
5.80% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.60 buys in 1975: the 1966 dollar
lost 39.8% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 1975 at the same ratio, 1.66: $1,000 becomes
$1,660, and $10,000 becomes $16,605.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1975
$1.00
$1.66
$5.00
$8.30
$10.00
$16.60
$20.00
$33.21
$50.00
$83.02
$100
$166
$500
$830
$1,000
$1,660
$5,000
$8,302
$10,000
$16,605
$100,000
$166,049
$1,000,000
$1,660,494
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1975
Between 1966 and 1975, energy rose the most, up 80.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 48.0%, against 66.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1975, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.80%
$166
Energy
6.79%
$181
Medical care
6.79%
$181
Food
6.54%
$177
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.43%
$161
Transportation
5.00%
$155
Apparel
4.45%
$148
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1975
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.76% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (4.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1975 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1966, at end
1966–1970
4.61%
19.8%
$120
1970–1975
6.76%
38.7%
$166
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $120 by
1970, on its way to $166 in 1975; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and the smallest rise was 3.1% in 1967.
In 1975, prices rose 9.1% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $166; the year's average CPI of 53.8 is the level
behind every 1975 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in 1975, easing slightly from 1974’s
11.0% but still running far above anything the country had experienced before
the decade began. The recession that started in November 1973, the deepest
since the Great Depression, bottomed out that March, yet unemployment kept
climbing through the year and touched 9%, a combination of high inflation and
high joblessness that had no precedent in the postwar data. Vietnam ended
that April 30, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and the last
Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof. Fiscal
strain hit closer to home too: New York City, facing bankruptcy after years
of borrowing to paper over budget gaps, asked Washington for help that
October. President Ford’s initial refusal produced the Daily News headline
“Ford to City: Drop Dead,” though he ultimately signed a federal loan package
that December. Amid the gloom, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft
that April in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sell a version of the BASIC
programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal
computers sold to hobbyists. A median household earned $11,800 in 1975, a new
home sold for a median $39,300, and first-class postage held at 10 cents,
unchanged since 1974’s increase. Consumer prices stood 443.4%
above their 1913 level, with the decade barely past its
midpoint.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1975: $100 is worth $166 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1975/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1975. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1975/