$100 in 1966 is worth $298 in 1982,
because prices increased 197.8% over that period, an average of
7.06% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$298
in 1982
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
197.8%
Average inflation rate
7.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$298
Price difference ($100 base)
$198
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1982
96.5
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1982
6.16%
$100 in 1966 → 1982
$298
$100 in 1982 → 1966
$33.58
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1982
Between 1966 and 1982, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 96.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 197.8%, which works out to an average of
7.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.34 buys in 1982: the 1966 dollar
lost 66.4% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 1982 at the same ratio, 2.98: $1,000 becomes
$2,978, and $10,000 becomes $29,784.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1982
$1.00
$2.98
$5.00
$14.89
$10.00
$29.78
$20.00
$59.57
$50.00
$149
$100
$298
$500
$1,489
$1,000
$2,978
$5,000
$14,892
$10,000
$29,784
$100,000
$297,840
$1,000,000
$2,978,395
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1982
Between 1966 and 1982, energy rose the most, up 325.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 99.6%, against 197.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1982, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
7.06%
$298
Energy
9.48%
$426
Medical care
8.18%
$352
Transportation
7.11%
$300
Food
6.84%
$288
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.79%
$286
Apparel
4.41%
$200
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1982
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 8.22% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (4.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1982 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1966, at end
1966–1970
4.61%
19.8%
$120
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$254
1980–1982
8.22%
17.1%
$298
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $152 by
1974, on its way to $298 in 1982; 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 the smallest rise was 3.1% in 1967.
In 1982, prices rose 6.2% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $298; the year's average CPI of 96.5 is the level
behind every 1982 figure on this page.
1982 was the hard bottom of the disinflation Paul Volcker had set in motion.
Consumer prices rose just 6.2% for the year, roughly half of 1981’s rate and a
fraction of the 13.5% peak from two years earlier. The price fell because
demand had been crushed: the recession that began in July 1981 did not
officially end until November 1982, and unemployment kept climbing even as
the economy technically began to recover, reaching 10.8% in November and
December, the highest rate since the Great Depression. Manufacturing and
construction, especially the auto and housing industries starved of credit by
double-digit interest rates, bore the worst of it. Abroad, Mexico’s August
announcement that it could not service its foreign debt opened a Latin
American debt crisis that spread across the region and forced the Federal
Reserve and IMF into emergency lending. The stress on the financial system
pushed Volcker to start easing interest rates that October, stepping back
from the strict money-supply targets he had followed since 1979. Markets read
the shift correctly: the Dow Jones Industrial Average bottomed at 776.92 in
mid-August, and the rally that followed became the opening leg of the 1980s
bull market. By year’s end, the trade-off Volcker had bet on was becoming
visible: much lower inflation, at the cost of the worst unemployment in 40
years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1982: $100 is worth $298 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1982/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1982. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1982/