$100 in 1966 is worth $307 in 1983,
because prices increased 207.4% over that period, an average of
6.83% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$307
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
207.4%
Average inflation rate
6.83% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$307
Price difference ($100 base)
$207
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1966 → 1983
$307
$100 in 1983 → 1966
$32.53
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1983
Between 1966 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 207.4%, which works out to an average of
6.83% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.33 buys in 1983: the 1966 dollar
lost 67.5% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 1983 at the same ratio, 3.07: $1,000 becomes
$3,074, and $10,000 becomes $30,741.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1983
$1.00
$3.07
$5.00
$15.37
$10.00
$30.74
$20.00
$61.48
$50.00
$154
$100
$307
$500
$1,537
$1,000
$3,074
$5,000
$15,370
$10,000
$30,741
$100,000
$307,407
$1,000,000
$3,074,074
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1983
Between 1966 and 1983, energy rose the most, up 328.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 104.5%, against 207.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.83%
$307
Energy
8.94%
$429
Medical care
8.21%
$383
Transportation
6.83%
$307
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.62%
$297
Food
6.55%
$294
Apparel
4.30%
$204
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1983
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (4.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1983 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
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$307
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $152 by
1974, on its way to $307 in 1983; 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 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $307; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1983: $100 is worth $307 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1983/