$100 in 1966 is worth $622 in 2006,
because prices increased 522.2% over that period, an average of
4.68% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$622
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
522.2%
Average inflation rate
4.68% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$622
Price difference ($100 base)
$522
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1966 → 2006
$622
$100 in 2006 → 1966
$16.07
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2006
Between 1966 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 522.2%, which works out to an average of
4.68% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.16 buys in 2006: the 1966 dollar
lost 83.9% of its purchasing power over
these 40 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 2006 at the same ratio, 6.22: $1,000 becomes
$6,222, and $10,000 becomes $62,222.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2006
$1.00
$6.22
$5.00
$31.11
$10.00
$62.22
$20.00
$124
$50.00
$311
$100
$622
$500
$3,111
$1,000
$6,222
$5,000
$31,111
$10,000
$62,222
$100,000
$622,222
$1,000,000
$6,222,222
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2006
Between 1966 and 2006, medical care rose the most, up 1178.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 143.9%, against 522.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.68%
$622
Medical care
6.58%
$1,278
Energy
5.48%
$845
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.64%
$615
Food
4.48%
$578
Transportation
4.40%
$560
Apparel
2.25%
$244
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.66% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$622
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $338 by
1986, on its way to $622 in 2006; 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: 2006
In 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $622; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2006: $100 is worth $622 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2006/