$100 in 1961 is worth $304 in 1981,
because prices increased 204.0% over that period, an average of
5.72% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$304
in 1981
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
204.0%
Average inflation rate
5.72% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$304
Price difference ($100 base)
$204
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 1981
90.9
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 1981
10.32%
$100 in 1961 → 1981
$304
$100 in 1981 → 1961
$32.89
What happened to prices between 1961 and 1981
Between 1961 and 1981, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 90.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 204.0%, which works out to an average of
5.72% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.33 buys in 1981: the 1961 dollar
lost 67.1% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 1981 at the same ratio, 3.04: $1,000 becomes
$3,040, and $10,000 becomes $30,401.
Amount in 1961
Value in 1981
$1.00
$3.04
$5.00
$15.20
$10.00
$30.40
$20.00
$60.80
$50.00
$152
$100
$304
$500
$1,520
$1,000
$3,040
$5,000
$15,201
$10,000
$30,401
$100,000
$304,013
$1,000,000
$3,040,134
Inflation by spending category, 1961–1981
Between 1961 and 1981, energy rose the most, up 334.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 106.7%, against 204.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 1981, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.72%
$304
Energy
7.62%
$434
Medical care
6.64%
$362
Transportation
5.81%
$310
Food
5.78%
$308
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.43%
$288
Apparel
3.70%
$207
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1961 to 1981
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 10.32% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (2.94% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1961–1981 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1961, at end
1961–1970
2.94%
29.8%
$130
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$276
1980–1981
10.32%
10.3%
$304
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $135 by
1971, on its way to $304 in 1981; 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 the smallest rise was 1.0% in 1962.
In 1981, prices rose 10.3% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $304; the year's average CPI of 90.9 is the level
behind every 1981 figure on this page.
1981 was the year the inflation fever finally broke, at an extraordinary price.
Consumer prices rose 10.3%, the second year of back-to-back double-digit
inflation and the last time the U.S. would see one. To end it, Paul Volcker’s
Federal Reserve drove its policy rate above 19% and let borrowing costs go
where they may: a 30-year mortgage cost more than 18% by autumn, car loans and
business credit froze, and homebuilders mailed the Fed two-by-fours in protest.
The squeeze tipped the economy into recession in July, the deep 1981–82
downturn that would push unemployment past 10%. But it worked. Inflation fell
by nearly half within a year and to under 4% by 1983, the disinflation that
defined the following two decades. Even the price of mailing a letter told the
year’s story: postage went up twice in eight months.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 1981: $100 is worth $304 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-1981/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 1981. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-1981/