$100 in 1966 is worth $741 in 2016,
because prices increased 640.8% over that period, an average of
4.09% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$741
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
640.8%
Average inflation rate
4.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$741
Price difference ($100 base)
$641
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1966 → 2016
$741
$100 in 2016 → 1966
$13.50
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2016
Between 1966 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 640.8%, which works out to an average of
4.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2016: the 1966 dollar
lost 86.5% of its purchasing power over
these 50 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 2016 at the same ratio, 7.41: $1,000 becomes
$7,408, and $10,000 becomes $74,076.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2016
$1.00
$7.41
$5.00
$37.04
$10.00
$74.08
$20.00
$148
$50.00
$370
$100
$741
$500
$3,704
$1,000
$7,408
$5,000
$37,038
$10,000
$74,076
$100,000
$740,762
$1,000,000
$7,407,623
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2016
Between 1966 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 1663.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 157.2%, against 640.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.09%
$741
Medical care
5.91%
$1,763
Energy
4.28%
$813
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.08%
$739
Food
4.07%
$734
Transportation
3.66%
$603
Apparel
1.91%
$257
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2016
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.61% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$741
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $403 by
1990, on its way to $741 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $741; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2016: $100 is worth $741 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2016/