$100 in 1966 is worth $495 in 1997,
because prices increased 395.4% over that period, an average of
5.30% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$495
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
395.4%
Average inflation rate
5.30% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$495
Price difference ($100 base)
$395
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1966 → 1997
$495
$100 in 1997 → 1966
$20.19
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1997
Between 1966 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 395.4%, which works out to an average of
5.30% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.20 buys in 1997: the 1966 dollar
lost 79.8% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 1997 at the same ratio, 4.95: $1,000 becomes
$4,954, and $10,000 becomes $49,537.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1997
$1.00
$4.95
$5.00
$24.77
$10.00
$49.54
$20.00
$99.07
$50.00
$248
$100
$495
$500
$2,477
$1,000
$4,954
$5,000
$24,769
$10,000
$49,537
$100,000
$495,370
$1,000,000
$4,953,704
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1997
Between 1966 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 792.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 171.2%, against 395.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.30%
$495
Medical care
7.31%
$892
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.37%
$506
Energy
5.18%
$479
Food
5.09%
$465
Transportation
4.95%
$447
Apparel
3.27%
$271
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1997
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.98% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$495
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $298 by
1982, on its way to $495 in 1997; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $495; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1997: $100 is worth $495 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1997/