$100 in 1966 is worth $457 in 1994,
because prices increased 357.4% over that period, an average of
5.58% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$457
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
357.4%
Average inflation rate
5.58% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$457
Price difference ($100 base)
$357
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1966 → 1994
$457
$100 in 1994 → 1966
$21.86
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1994
Between 1966 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 357.4%, which works out to an average of
5.58% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1994: the 1966 dollar
lost 78.1% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 1994 at the same ratio, 4.57: $1,000 becomes
$4,574, and $10,000 becomes $45,741.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1994
$1.00
$4.57
$5.00
$22.87
$10.00
$45.74
$20.00
$91.48
$50.00
$229
$100
$457
$500
$2,287
$1,000
$4,574
$5,000
$22,870
$10,000
$45,741
$100,000
$457,407
$1,000,000
$4,574,074
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1994
Between 1966 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 702.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 172.2%, against 357.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.58%
$457
Medical care
7.72%
$802
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.66%
$467
Energy
5.51%
$449
Food
5.32%
$427
Transportation
5.22%
$416
Apparel
3.64%
$272
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1994
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.19% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1994 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
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$457
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $254 by
1980, on its way to $457 in 1994; 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 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $457; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1994: $100 is worth $457 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1994/