$100 in 1966 is worth $420 in 1991,
because prices increased 320.4% over that period, an average of
5.91% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$420
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
320.4%
Average inflation rate
5.91% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$420
Price difference ($100 base)
$320
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1966 → 1991
$420
$100 in 1991 → 1966
$23.79
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1991
Between 1966 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 320.4%, which works out to an average of
5.91% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.24 buys in 1991: the 1966 dollar
lost 76.2% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 1991 at the same ratio, 4.20: $1,000 becomes
$4,204, and $10,000 becomes $42,037.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1991
$1.00
$4.20
$5.00
$21.02
$10.00
$42.04
$20.00
$84.07
$50.00
$210
$100
$420
$500
$2,102
$1,000
$4,204
$5,000
$21,019
$10,000
$42,037
$100,000
$420,370
$1,000,000
$4,203,704
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1991
Between 1966 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 573.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 162.7%, against 320.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.91%
$420
Medical care
7.92%
$673
Energy
6.10%
$440
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.95%
$424
Food
5.74%
$403
Transportation
5.52%
$383
Apparel
3.94%
$263
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (4.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1991 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$403
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$420
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $201 by
1978, on its way to $420 in 1991; 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 1.9% in 1986.
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $420; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1991: $100 is worth $420 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1991/