$100 in 1966 is worth $321 in 1984,
because prices increased 220.7% over that period, an average of
6.69% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$321
in 1984
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
220.7%
Average inflation rate
6.69% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$321
Price difference ($100 base)
$221
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1984
103.9
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1984
4.32%
$100 in 1966 → 1984
$321
$100 in 1984 → 1966
$31.18
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1984
Between 1966 and 1984, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 103.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 220.7%, which works out to an average of
6.69% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.31 buys in 1984: the 1966 dollar
lost 68.8% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 1984 at the same ratio, 3.21: $1,000 becomes
$3,207, and $10,000 becomes $32,068.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1984
$1.00
$3.21
$5.00
$16.03
$10.00
$32.07
$20.00
$64.14
$50.00
$160
$100
$321
$500
$1,603
$1,000
$3,207
$5,000
$16,034
$10,000
$32,068
$100,000
$320,679
$1,000,000
$3,206,790
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1984
Between 1966 and 1984, energy rose the most, up 333.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 108.4%, against 220.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1984, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.69%
$321
Energy
8.48%
$433
Medical care
8.10%
$406
Transportation
6.69%
$321
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.53%
$312
Food
6.40%
$305
Apparel
4.16%
$208
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1984
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 1966–1984 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
1980–1984
5.97%
26.1%
$321
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $166 by
1975, on its way to $321 in 1984; 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 1984, prices rose 4.3% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $321; the year's average CPI of 103.9 is the level
behind every 1984 figure on this page.
1984 was the year the recovery became a boom. Real GDP grew 7.2%, the
fastest calendar-year growth since 1951, as the tax cuts passed in 1981
combined with falling interest rates and rebuilding consumer confidence.
Unemployment, which had topped 10.8% just two years earlier, fell below
7.5%. Inflation ticked up to 4.3% from 3.2% the year before, but nothing
close to a return of the 1970s wage-price spiral: the Federal Reserve under
Paul Volcker kept policy tight enough to hold the line while growth ran hot.
The strength of the expansion, branded “Morning in America” in President
Reagan’s reelection campaign, carried him to a 49-state landslide over
Walter Mondale that November, at the time the widest electoral-vote margin
in U.S. history. For households, the numbers behind the slogan were
concrete: median income rose to about $22,400, and a gallon of gas cost
$1.13, roughly what it had cost three years earlier even as wages kept
climbing. The contrast with 1980, when 13.5% inflation and interest rates
near 20% had defined the economy, could not have been sharper.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1984: $100 is worth $321 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1984/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1984. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1984/