$100 in 1966 is worth $187 in 1977,
because prices increased 87.0% over that period, an average of
5.86% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$187
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
87.0%
Average inflation rate
5.86% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$187
Price difference ($100 base)
$87.04
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1966 → 1977
$187
$100 in 1977 → 1966
$53.47
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1977
Between 1966 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 87.0%, which works out to an average of
5.86% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.53 buys in 1977: the 1966 dollar
lost 46.5% of its purchasing power over
these 11 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 1977 at the same ratio, 1.87: $1,000 becomes
$1,870, and $10,000 becomes $18,704.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1977
$1.00
$1.87
$5.00
$9.35
$10.00
$18.70
$20.00
$37.41
$50.00
$93.52
$100
$187
$500
$935
$1,000
$1,870
$5,000
$9,352
$10,000
$18,704
$100,000
$187,037
$1,000,000
$1,870,370
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1977
Between 1966 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 116.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 60.4%, against 87.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.86%
$187
Medical care
7.28%
$217
Energy
7.07%
$212
Food
6.20%
$194
Transportation
5.63%
$183
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.60%
$182
Apparel
4.39%
$160
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (4.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1977 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1966, at end
1966–1970
4.61%
19.8%
$120
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$187
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $125 by
1971, on its way to $187 in 1977; 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 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $187; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1977: $100 is worth $187 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1977/