$100 in 1966 is worth $732 in 2015,
because prices increased 631.5% over that period, an average of
4.14% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$732
in 2015
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
631.5%
Average inflation rate
4.14% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$732
Price difference ($100 base)
$632
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2015
237.017
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2015
0.12%
$100 in 1966 → 2015
$732
$100 in 2015 → 1966
$13.67
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2015
Between 1966 and 2015, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 237.017.
Cumulatively, prices increased 631.5%, which works out to an average of
4.14% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2015: the 1966 dollar
lost 86.3% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 2015 at the same ratio, 7.32: $1,000 becomes
$7,315, and $10,000 becomes $73,153.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2015
$1.00
$7.32
$5.00
$36.58
$10.00
$73.15
$20.00
$146
$50.00
$366
$100
$732
$500
$3,658
$1,000
$7,315
$5,000
$36,577
$10,000
$73,153
$100,000
$731,534
$1,000,000
$7,315,340
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2015
Between 1966 and 2015, medical care rose the most, up 1598.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 156.9%, against 631.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2015, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.14%
$732
Medical care
5.95%
$1,699
Energy
4.52%
$871
Food
4.14%
$731
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.12%
$723
Transportation
3.78%
$616
Apparel
1.94%
$257
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2015
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.68% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–2015 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
2010–2015
1.68%
8.7%
$732
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $403 by
1990, on its way to $732 in 2015; 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: 2015
In 2015, prices rose 0.1% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $732; the year's average CPI of 237.017 is the level
behind every 2015 figure on this page.
2015 was almost a year with no inflation at all. Consumer prices rose 0.1%,
the smallest increase since the 2009 decline, because energy prices kept
falling. Gasoline averaged $2.45 a gallon, down from $3.37 in 2014, and a
strong dollar made imported goods cheaper. The picture was different outside
food and energy: core prices rose about 1.8% as rents and medical costs
climbed.
Incomes finally showed real progress. Median household income reached $56,516,
a large jump from $53,657, and the median new home sold for about $296,400. The
federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25, and a first-class stamp stayed at 49
cents.
The Federal Reserve chose December to end its zero-rate policy, raising the
target range to 0.25–0.50% for the first time since 2006. It moved even
though headline inflation was far under 2%, arguing that the drag from
energy was temporary. Earlier, a currency shift in China in August had shaken
global markets and pushed oil below $40 a barrel. Prices in 2015 ended
the year barely above their 2014 level.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2015: $100 is worth $732 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2015/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2015. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2015/