$100 in 1966 is worth $731 in 2014,
because prices increased 630.7% over that period, an average of
4.23% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$731
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
630.7%
Average inflation rate
4.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$731
Price difference ($100 base)
$631
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1966 → 2014
$731
$100 in 2014 → 1966
$13.69
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2014
Between 1966 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 630.7%, which works out to an average of
4.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2014: the 1966 dollar
lost 86.3% of its purchasing power over
these 48 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 2014 at the same ratio, 7.31: $1,000 becomes
$7,307, and $10,000 becomes $73,067.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2014
$1.00
$7.31
$5.00
$36.53
$10.00
$73.07
$20.00
$146
$50.00
$365
$100
$731
$500
$3,653
$1,000
$7,307
$5,000
$36,533
$10,000
$73,067
$100,000
$730,667
$1,000,000
$7,306,667
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2014
Between 1966 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 1555.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 160.2%, against 630.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.23%
$731
Medical care
6.02%
$1,655
Energy
5.01%
$1,045
Food
4.19%
$718
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.17%
$710
Transportation
4.04%
$669
Apparel
2.01%
$260
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2014
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–2014 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
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$731
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $403 by
1990, on its way to $731 in 2014; 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: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $731; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2014: $100 is worth $731 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2014/