$100 in 1961 is worth $333 in 1983,
because prices increased 233.1% over that period, an average of
5.62% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$333
in 1983
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
233.1%
Average inflation rate
5.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$333
Price difference ($100 base)
$233
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 1983
99.6
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 1983
3.21%
$100 in 1961 → 1983
$333
$100 in 1983 → 1961
$30.02
What happened to prices between 1961 and 1983
Between 1961 and 1983, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 99.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 233.1%, which works out to an average of
5.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.30 buys in 1983: the 1961 dollar
lost 70.0% of its purchasing power over
these 22 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 1983 at the same ratio, 3.33: $1,000 becomes
$3,331, and $10,000 becomes $33,311.
Amount in 1961
Value in 1983
$1.00
$3.33
$5.00
$16.66
$10.00
$33.31
$20.00
$66.62
$50.00
$167
$100
$333
$500
$1,666
$1,000
$3,331
$5,000
$16,656
$10,000
$33,311
$100,000
$333,110
$1,000,000
$3,331,104
Inflation by spending category, 1961–1983
Between 1961 and 1983, energy rose the most, up 344.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 117.4%, against 233.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 1983, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.62%
$333
Energy
7.01%
$444
Medical care
6.96%
$439
Transportation
5.58%
$330
Food
5.53%
$327
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.45%
$321
Apparel
3.59%
$217
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1961 to 1983
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (2.94% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1961–1983 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
1980–1983
6.52%
20.9%
$333
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $140 by
1972, on its way to $333 in 1983; 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 1983, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $333; the year's average CPI of 99.6 is the level
behind every 1983 figure on this page.
1983 confirmed that the Volcker disinflation was not a one-year fluke.
Consumer prices rose 3.2% for the year, nearly identical to 1982’s pace and a
fraction of the double-digit rates of 1980 and 1981. With inflation tamed and
interest rates coming down, the economy roared back from the 1981-82
recession: real GDP grew 4.6%, the strongest calendar-year growth since the
1950s, and unemployment fell from its 10.8% peak to 8.3% by December. Housing
and auto sales, both starved of credit during the recession, led the
rebound. In April, Congress and President Reagan enacted the Social Security
Amendments of 1983, a bipartisan rescue of a system projected to run out of
money within months. The law gradually raised the full retirement age from
65 to 67, began taxing benefits for higher-income retirees, and delayed that
year’s cost-of-living adjustment by six months. For a program whose benefits
had been indexed to the CPI since 1975, the amendments were the first major
sign that inflation-proofing Social Security carried a cost Congress could
not simply legislate away. By year’s end, gas averaged $1.16 a gallon and
mailing a letter still cost 20 cents, prices that had barely moved since
1981, a sharp break from the constant increases of the previous decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 1983: $100 is worth $333 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-1983/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 1983. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-1983/