$100 in 1966 is worth $332 in 1985,
because prices increased 232.1% over that period, an average of
6.52% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$332
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
232.1%
Average inflation rate
6.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$332
Price difference ($100 base)
$232
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1966 → 1985
$332
$100 in 1985 → 1966
$30.11
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1985
Between 1966 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 232.1%, which works out to an average of
6.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.30 buys in 1985: the 1966 dollar
lost 69.9% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 1985 at the same ratio, 3.32: $1,000 becomes
$3,321, and $10,000 becomes $33,210.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1985
$1.00
$3.32
$5.00
$16.60
$10.00
$33.21
$20.00
$66.42
$50.00
$166
$100
$332
$500
$1,660
$1,000
$3,321
$5,000
$16,605
$10,000
$33,210
$100,000
$332,099
$1,000,000
$3,320,988
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1985
Between 1966 and 1985, energy rose the most, up 336.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 114.3%, against 232.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.52%
$332
Energy
8.06%
$436
Medical care
8.00%
$432
Transportation
6.48%
$329
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.41%
$326
Food
6.18%
$312
Apparel
4.09%
$214
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1985
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 1966–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$332
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $166 by
1975, on its way to $332 in 1985; 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 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $332; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1985: $100 is worth $332 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1985/