$100 in 1966 is worth $775 in 2018,
because prices increased 675.0% over that period, an average of
4.02% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$775
in 2018
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
675.0%
Average inflation rate
4.02% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$775
Price difference ($100 base)
$675
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2018
251.107
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2018
2.44%
$100 in 1966 → 2018
$775
$100 in 2018 → 1966
$12.90
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2018
Between 1966 and 2018, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 251.107.
Cumulatively, prices increased 675.0%, which works out to an average of
4.02% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2018: the 1966 dollar
lost 87.1% of its purchasing power over
these 52 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 2018 at the same ratio, 7.75: $1,000 becomes
$7,750, and $10,000 becomes $77,502.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2018
$1.00
$7.75
$5.00
$38.75
$10.00
$77.50
$20.00
$155
$50.00
$388
$100
$775
$500
$3,875
$1,000
$7,750
$5,000
$38,751
$10,000
$77,502
$100,000
$775,022
$1,000,000
$7,750,216
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2018
Between 1966 and 2018, medical care rose the most, up 1743.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 156.4%, against 675.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2018, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.02%
$775
Medical care
5.76%
$1,843
Energy
4.41%
$944
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.00%
$769
Food
3.95%
$750
Transportation
3.67%
$652
Apparel
1.83%
$256
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2018
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–2018 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
2010–2018
1.78%
15.2%
$775
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $433 by
1992, on its way to $775 in 2018; 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: 2018
In 2018, prices rose 2.4% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $775; the year's average CPI of 251.107 is the level
behind every 2018 figure on this page.
2018 was the peak of the late-2010s expansion. Consumer prices rose 2.4%,
the fastest since 2011, with gasoline averaging $2.72 a gallon after a summer
high. Unemployment fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest since 1969, and median
household income reached $63,179. The median new home sold for about $331,800,
and a first-class stamp cost 50 cents. The federal minimum wage was still $7.25.
Trade policy became a price factor for the first time in decades. New tariffs
on steel, aluminum, and a growing list of Chinese goods raised costs for
manufacturers and some consumer products, and retaliation cut into exports of
soybeans and other farm goods.
The Federal Reserve, led from February by Jerome Powell, raised rates four
times to 2.25–2.50%. A stock-market drop of nearly 20% in the fourth quarter
led the Fed to signal a pause in early 2019. Oil fell from over $75 a barrel in
October to below $50 by December, which pulled headline inflation lower going
into the next year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2018: $100 is worth $775 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2018/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2018. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2018/