$100 in 1966 is worth $503 in 1998,
because prices increased 403.1% over that period, an average of
5.18% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$503
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
403.1%
Average inflation rate
5.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$503
Price difference ($100 base)
$403
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1966 → 1998
$503
$100 in 1998 → 1966
$19.88
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1998
Between 1966 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 403.1%, which works out to an average of
5.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.20 buys in 1998: the 1966 dollar
lost 80.1% of its purchasing power over
these 32 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 1998 at the same ratio, 5.03: $1,000 becomes
$5,031, and $10,000 becomes $50,309.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1998
$1.00
$5.03
$5.00
$25.15
$10.00
$50.31
$20.00
$101
$50.00
$252
$100
$503
$500
$2,515
$1,000
$5,031
$5,000
$25,154
$10,000
$50,309
$100,000
$503,086
$1,000,000
$5,030,864
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1998
Between 1966 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 820.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 171.4%, against 403.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.18%
$503
Medical care
7.18%
$921
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.27%
$518
Food
4.99%
$475
Energy
4.75%
$442
Transportation
4.73%
$438
Apparel
3.17%
$271
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1998
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1998 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
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$503
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $298 by
1982, on its way to $503 in 1998; 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 1.6% in 1998.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1998
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $503; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1998: $100 is worth $503 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1998/