$100 in 1966 is worth $547 in 2001,
because prices increased 446.6% over that period, an average of
4.97% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$547
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
446.6%
Average inflation rate
4.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$547
Price difference ($100 base)
$447
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1966 → 2001
$547
$100 in 2001 → 1966
$18.29
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2001
Between 1966 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 446.6%, which works out to an average of
4.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.18 buys in 2001: the 1966 dollar
lost 81.7% of its purchasing power over
these 35 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 2001 at the same ratio, 5.47: $1,000 becomes
$5,466, and $10,000 becomes $54,660.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2001
$1.00
$5.47
$5.00
$27.33
$10.00
$54.66
$20.00
$109
$50.00
$273
$100
$547
$500
$2,733
$1,000
$5,466
$5,000
$27,330
$10,000
$54,660
$100,000
$546,605
$1,000,000
$5,466,049
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2001
Between 1966 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 937.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 159.8%, against 446.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.97%
$547
Medical care
6.91%
$1,037
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.02%
$556
Energy
5.02%
$555
Food
4.78%
$512
Transportation
4.57%
$478
Apparel
2.77%
$260
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2001
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 1966–2001 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$531
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$547
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $321 by
1984, on its way to $547 in 2001; 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: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $547; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2001: $100 is worth $547 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2001/