$100 in 1966 is worth $568 in 2003,
because prices increased 467.9% over that period, an average of
4.81% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$568
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
467.9%
Average inflation rate
4.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$568
Price difference ($100 base)
$468
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1966 → 2003
$568
$100 in 2003 → 1966
$17.61
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2003
Between 1966 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 467.9%, which works out to an average of
4.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.18 buys in 2003: the 1966 dollar
lost 82.4% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 2003 at the same ratio, 5.68: $1,000 becomes
$5,679, and $10,000 becomes $56,790.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2003
$1.00
$5.68
$5.00
$28.40
$10.00
$56.79
$20.00
$114
$50.00
$284
$100
$568
$500
$2,840
$1,000
$5,679
$5,000
$28,395
$10,000
$56,790
$100,000
$567,901
$1,000,000
$5,679,012
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2003
Between 1966 and 2003, medical care rose the most, up 1029.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 146.7%, against 467.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.81%
$568
Medical care
6.77%
$1,130
Energy
4.89%
$586
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.85%
$577
Food
4.62%
$533
Transportation
4.38%
$488
Apparel
2.47%
$247
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2003
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–2003 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
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$568
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $321 by
1984, on its way to $568 in 2003; 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: 2003
In 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $568; the year's average CPI of 184 is the level
behind every 2003 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.3% in 2003, up from 1.6% in 2002, as gasoline climbed from $1.36 to $1.59 a
gallon around the March invasion of Iraq. Even so, the Federal Reserve spent the year worried
about prices being too low: on June 25 it cut its policy rate to 1.0%, the lowest since 1958,
and said the risk of deflation, though small, deserved a response. The median household earned
about $43,300 and a new home cost roughly $195,000. Congress passed a second round of tax cuts
in May, and the economy grew faster in the second half of the year than at any point since
1999. Hiring lagged the recovery, and unemployment peaked at 6.3% in June. A first-class stamp
stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2003: $100 is worth $568 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2003/