$100 in 1961 is worth $104 in 1964,
because prices increased 3.7% over that period, an average of
1.21% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$104
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
3.7%
Average inflation rate
1.21% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$104
Price difference ($100 base)
$3.68
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1961 → 1964
$104
$100 in 1964 → 1961
$96.45
What happened to prices between 1961 and 1964
Between 1961 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 3.7%, which works out to an average of
1.21% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.96 buys in 1964: the 1961 dollar
lost 3.5% of its purchasing power over
these 3 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1961, down from 1960’s 1.7% as
the economy climbed out of recession, a recovery the National Bureau of
Economic Research dates to that February. Politically, the year opened
with a changing of the guard: outgoing president Dwight Eisenhower’s
farewell address on January 17 warned of a growing “military-industrial
complex,” and three days later John F. Kennedy was sworn in, urging
Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you.” The new
administration’s first major foreign-policy test came quickly and badly:
a CIA-organized force of Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on April
17 aiming to topple Fidel Castro, and without the U.S. air support Kennedy
withheld, the invasion collapsed within three days. Cold War tensions
hardened further that August, when East German forces sealed the border
between East and West Berlin overnight, building what would become the
Berlin Wall and stopping the flow of refugees to the West. Domestically,
the wage floor moved for the first time in five years: the Fair Labor
Standards Amendments of 1961, effective that September, raised the
minimum wage to $1.15 an hour and extended coverage to roughly 3.6 million
additional workers. Consumer prices finished 1961 202.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents.
Every 1961 amount converts to 1964 at the same ratio, 1.04: $1,000 becomes
$1,037, and $10,000 becomes $10,368.
Amount in 1961
Value in 1964
$1.00
$1.04
$5.00
$5.18
$10.00
$10.37
$20.00
$20.74
$50.00
$51.84
$100
$104
$500
$518
$1,000
$1,037
$5,000
$5,184
$10,000
$10,368
$100,000
$103,679
$1,000,000
$1,036,789
Inflation by spending category, 1961–1964
Between 1961 and 1964, medical care rose the most, up 7.4%, while energy rose the least, up 0.0%, against 3.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.21%
$104
Medical care
2.42%
$107
Transportation
1.42%
$104
Core (all items less food & energy)
1.38%
$104
Food
1.19%
$104
Apparel
0.86%
$103
Energy
0.00%
$100
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $101 by
1962, on its way to $104 in 1964; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 1.3% in 1963, and the smallest rise was 1.0% in 1962.
In 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $104; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 1964: $100 is worth $104 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-1964/