$100 in 1966 is worth $640 in 2007,
because prices increased 539.9% over that period, an average of
4.63% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$640
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
539.9%
Average inflation rate
4.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$640
Price difference ($100 base)
$540
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1966 → 2007
$640
$100 in 2007 → 1966
$15.63
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2007
Between 1966 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 539.9%, which works out to an average of
4.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.16 buys in 2007: the 1966 dollar
lost 84.4% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 2007 at the same ratio, 6.40: $1,000 becomes
$6,399, and $10,000 becomes $63,994.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2007
$1.00
$6.40
$5.00
$32.00
$10.00
$63.99
$20.00
$128
$50.00
$320
$100
$640
$500
$3,200
$1,000
$6,399
$5,000
$31,997
$10,000
$63,994
$100,000
$639,944
$1,000,000
$6,399,444
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2007
Between 1966 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 1234.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 142.9%, against 539.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.63%
$640
Medical care
6.52%
$1,335
Energy
5.48%
$892
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.59%
$629
Food
4.47%
$600
Transportation
4.34%
$572
Apparel
2.19%
$243
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$640
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $338 by
1986, on its way to $640 in 2007; 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: 2007
In 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $640; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2007: $100 is worth $640 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2007/