$100 in 1966 is worth $968 in 2024,
because prices increased 868.2% over that period, an average of
3.99% a year.
$100 in 1966 has
the same buying power as
$968
in 2024
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
868.2%
Average inflation rate
3.99% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$968
Price difference ($100 base)
$868
CPI in 1966
32.4
CPI in 2024
313.689
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
Inflation in 2024
2.95%
$100 in 1966 → 2024
$968
$100 in 2024 → 1966
$10.33
What happened to prices between 1966 and 2024
Between 1966 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index went from 32.4 to 313.689.
Cumulatively, prices increased 868.2%, which works out to an average of
3.99% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1966 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2024: the 1966 dollar
lost 89.7% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 2024 at the same ratio, 9.68: $1,000 becomes
$9,682, and $10,000 becomes $96,818.
Amount in 1966
Value in 2024
$1.00
$9.68
$5.00
$48.41
$10.00
$96.82
$20.00
$194
$50.00
$484
$100
$968
$500
$4,841
$1,000
$9,682
$5,000
$48,409
$10,000
$96,818
$100,000
$968,176
$1,000,000
$9,681,759
Inflation by spending category, 1966–2024
Between 1966 and 2024, medical care rose the most, up 2043.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 168.3%, against 868.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1966
spending costs in 2024, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1966 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.99%
$968
Medical care
5.43%
$2,144
Energy
4.38%
$1,200
Food
4.01%
$977
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.96%
$952
Transportation
3.73%
$838
Apparel
1.72%
$268
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1966: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1966 to 2024
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1966–2024 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$799
2020–2024
4.93%
21.2%
$968
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1966
$100 from 1966 had already become $457 by
1994, on its way to $968 in 2024; 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: 2024
In 2024, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1966 had the buying
power of $968; the year's average CPI of 313.689 is the level
behind every 2024 figure on this page.
2024 brought inflation close to normal without fully reaching it. Consumer
prices rose 2.9% on average, the smallest yearly increase since 2020, and the
December-to-December rate was also 2.9%. Gasoline averaged $3.30 a gallon,
below 2023’s $3.52. Shelter stayed the biggest driver of the index, so the
pace of price growth in categories that households can’t easily avoid, such as
rent and insurance, lagged the drop in goods and energy costs.
The Federal Reserve declared progress in September, cutting its policy rate
by half a point, the first reduction since the pandemic emergency, and then
by a quarter point in November and again in December. Mortgage rates near 7%
kept the housing market frozen for many would-be buyers.
Median household income was $83,730, the federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 73 cents in July. After the November election,
attention turned to how announced tariffs and tax policy might affect prices
in 2025.
MLA: “Inflation from 1966 to 2024: $100 is worth $968 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2024/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1966 to 2024. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1966-to-2024/