$100 in 1966 is worth $709 in 2012,
because prices increased 608.6% over that period, an average of
4.35% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$709
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
608.6%
Average inflation rate
4.35% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$709
Price difference ($100 base)
$609
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1966 → 2012
$709
$100 in 2012 → 1966
$14.11
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2012
Between 1966 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 608.6%, which works out to an average of
4.35% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2012: the 1966 dollar
lost 85.9% of its purchasing power over
these 46 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 2012 at the same ratio, 7.09: $1,000 becomes
$7,086, and $10,000 becomes $70,862.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2012
$1.00
$7.09
$5.00
$35.43
$10.00
$70.86
$20.00
$142
$50.00
$354
$100
$709
$500
$3,543
$1,000
$7,086
$5,000
$35,431
$10,000
$70,862
$100,000
$708,623
$1,000,000
$7,086,235
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2012
Between 1966 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 1477.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 157.7%, against 608.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.35%
$709
Medical care
6.18%
$1,578
Energy
5.26%
$1,056
Food
4.29%
$692
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.27%
$686
Transportation
4.23%
$673
Apparel
2.08%
$258
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2012
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–2012 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$673
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$709
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $365 by
1988, on its way to $709 in 2012; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2012
In 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $709; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2012: $100 is worth $709 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2012/