$100 in 1966 is worth $446 in 1993,
because prices increased 346.0% over that period, an average of
5.69% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$446
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
346.0%
Average inflation rate
5.69% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$446
Price difference ($100 base)
$346
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1966 → 1993
$446
$100 in 1993 → 1966
$22.42
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1993
Between 1966 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 346.0%, which works out to an average of
5.69% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1993: the 1966 dollar
lost 77.6% of its purchasing power over
these 27 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 1993 at the same ratio, 4.46: $1,000 becomes
$4,460, and $10,000 becomes $44,599.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1993
$1.00
$4.46
$5.00
$22.30
$10.00
$44.60
$20.00
$89.20
$50.00
$223
$100
$446
$500
$2,230
$1,000
$4,460
$5,000
$22,299
$10,000
$44,599
$100,000
$445,988
$1,000,000
$4,459,877
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1993
Between 1966 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 665.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 172.9%, against 346.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.69%
$446
Medical care
7.83%
$766
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.77%
$454
Energy
5.70%
$447
Food
5.43%
$417
Transportation
5.30%
$404
Apparel
3.79%
$273
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1993
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.40% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1993 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
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$446
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $224 by
1979, on its way to $446 in 1993; 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 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $446; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1993: $100 is worth $446 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1993/