$100 in 1966 is worth $470 in 1995,
because prices increased 370.4% over that period, an average of
5.48% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$470
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
370.4%
Average inflation rate
5.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$470
Price difference ($100 base)
$370
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1966 → 1995
$470
$100 in 1995 → 1966
$21.26
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1995
Between 1966 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 370.4%, which works out to an average of
5.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.21 buys in 1995: the 1966 dollar
lost 78.7% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 1995 at the same ratio, 4.70: $1,000 becomes
$4,704, and $10,000 becomes $47,037.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1995
$1.00
$4.70
$5.00
$23.52
$10.00
$47.04
$20.00
$94.07
$50.00
$235
$100
$470
$500
$2,352
$1,000
$4,704
$5,000
$23,519
$10,000
$47,037
$100,000
$470,370
$1,000,000
$4,703,704
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1995
Between 1966 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 738.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 169.4%, against 370.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.48%
$470
Medical care
7.61%
$838
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.57%
$481
Energy
5.34%
$452
Food
5.23%
$439
Transportation
5.16%
$431
Apparel
3.48%
$269
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1995 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
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$470
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $254 by
1980, on its way to $470 in 1995; 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 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $470; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1995: $100 is worth $470 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1995/