$100 in 1966 is worth $514 in 1999,
because prices increased 414.2% over that period, an average of
5.09% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$514
in 1999
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
414.2%
Average inflation rate
5.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$514
Price difference ($100 base)
$414
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 1999
166.6
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 1999
2.21%
$100 in 1966 → 1999
$514
$100 in 1999 → 1966
$19.45
What happened to prices between 1966 and 1999
Between 1966 and 1999, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 166.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 414.2%, which works out to an average of
5.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.19 buys in 1999: the 1966 dollar
lost 80.6% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 1999 at the same ratio, 5.14: $1,000 becomes
$5,142, and $10,000 becomes $51,420.
Amount in 1966
Value in 1999
$1.00
$5.14
$5.00
$25.71
$10.00
$51.42
$20.00
$103
$50.00
$257
$100
$514
$500
$2,571
$1,000
$5,142
$5,000
$25,710
$10,000
$51,420
$100,000
$514,198
$1,000,000
$5,141,975
Inflation by spending category, 1966–1999
Between 1966 and 1999, medical care rose the most, up 852.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 168.0%, against 414.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 1999, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.09%
$514
Medical care
7.07%
$953
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.17%
$528
Food
4.90%
$486
Energy
4.72%
$458
Transportation
4.64%
$447
Apparel
3.03%
$268
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 1999
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–1999 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
1990–1999
2.73%
27.5%
$514
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $298 by
1982, on its way to $514 in 1999; 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: 1999
In 1999, prices rose 2.2% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $514; the year's average CPI of 166.6 is the level
behind every 1999 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $40,700 in 1999, gas averaged $1.17 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $161,000. Inflation ran at 2.2% for the year, ticking back up from 1998’s decade low
as oil prices recovered from their collapse. The decade closed with two changes to the financial
system that would shape the one after it: on January 1, the euro launched as an accounting
currency across 11 European countries, trading alongside national currencies like the French
franc and German mark ahead of physical cash in 2002, and in November, Congress passed the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, tearing down the Depression-era wall between commercial banks, investment
banks, and insurers. Stock markets, meanwhile, were absorbed in a boom of their own: the Nasdaq
surged through the year on soaring internet-stock valuations, and the Federal Reserve raised
interest rates three times in the second half of 1999 partly to cool the exuberance, even as it
pumped extra liquidity into the banking system to guard against any disruption from the Y2K
rollover. A first-class stamp cost 33 cents. Inflation had spent the decade falling from 1990’s
5.4% peak to averages closer to 2-3%, and 1999 closed it out almost exactly where the 1990s as a
whole had settled.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 1999: $100 is worth $514 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1999/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 1999. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-1999/