$100 in 1961 is worth $360 in 1985,
because prices increased 259.9% over that period, an average of
5.48% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$360
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
259.9%
Average inflation rate
5.48% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$360
Price difference ($100 base)
$260
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1961 → 1985
$360
$100 in 1985 → 1961
$27.79
What happened to prices between 1961 and 1985
Between 1961 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 259.9%, which works out to an average of
5.48% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.28 buys in 1985: the 1961 dollar
lost 72.2% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 1985 at the same ratio, 3.60: $1,000 becomes
$3,599, and $10,000 becomes $35,987.
Amount in 1961
Value in 1985
$1.00
$3.60
$5.00
$17.99
$10.00
$35.99
$20.00
$71.97
$50.00
$180
$100
$360
$500
$1,799
$1,000
$3,599
$5,000
$17,993
$10,000
$35,987
$100,000
$359,866
$1,000,000
$3,598,662
Inflation by spending category, 1961–1985
Between 1961 and 1985, medical care rose the most, up 395.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 127.8%, against 259.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.48%
$360
Medical care
6.90%
$496
Energy
6.48%
$452
Transportation
5.40%
$353
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.38%
$352
Food
5.33%
$347
Apparel
3.49%
$228
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1961 to 1985
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 1961–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$360
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $148 by
1973, on its way to $360 in 1985; 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 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $360; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 1985: $100 is worth $360 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-1985/