$100 in 1966 is worth $555 in 2002,
because prices increased 455.2% over that period, an average of
4.88% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$555
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
455.2%
Average inflation rate
4.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$555
Price difference ($100 base)
$455
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1966 → 2002
$555
$100 in 2002 → 1966
$18.01
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2002
Between 1966 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 455.2%, which works out to an average of
4.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.18 buys in 2002: the 1966 dollar
lost 82.0% of its purchasing power over
these 36 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 2002 at the same ratio, 5.55: $1,000 becomes
$5,552, and $10,000 becomes $55,525.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2002
$1.00
$5.55
$5.00
$27.76
$10.00
$55.52
$20.00
$111
$50.00
$278
$100
$555
$500
$2,776
$1,000
$5,552
$5,000
$27,762
$10,000
$55,525
$100,000
$555,247
$1,000,000
$5,552,469
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2002
Between 1966 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 985.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 153.1%, against 455.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.88%
$555
Medical care
6.85%
$1,086
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.95%
$569
Energy
4.70%
$522
Food
4.69%
$521
Transportation
4.41%
$473
Apparel
2.61%
$253
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$555
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $321 by
1984, on its way to $555 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $555; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2002: $100 is worth $555 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2002/