$100 in 1961 is worth $396 in 1988,
because prices increased 295.7% over that period, an average of
5.23% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$396
in 1988
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
295.7%
Average inflation rate
5.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$396
Price difference ($100 base)
$296
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 1988
118.3
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 1988
4.14%
$100 in 1961 → 1988
$396
$100 in 1988 → 1961
$25.27
What happened to prices between 1961 and 1988
Between 1961 and 1988, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 118.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 295.7%, which works out to an average of
5.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.25 buys in 1988: the 1961 dollar
lost 74.7% of its purchasing power over
these 27 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 1988 at the same ratio, 3.96: $1,000 becomes
$3,957, and $10,000 becomes $39,565.
Amount in 1961
Value in 1988
$1.00
$3.96
$5.00
$19.78
$10.00
$39.57
$20.00
$79.13
$50.00
$198
$100
$396
$500
$1,978
$1,000
$3,957
$5,000
$19,783
$10,000
$39,565
$100,000
$395,652
$1,000,000
$3,956,522
Inflation by spending category, 1961–1988
Between 1961 and 1988, medical care rose the most, up 505.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 150.3%, against 295.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 1988, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.23%
$396
Medical care
6.90%
$605
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.25%
$398
Energy
5.24%
$397
Food
5.16%
$389
Transportation
4.87%
$361
Apparel
3.46%
$250
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1961 to 1988
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 1961–1988 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
1980–1988
4.62%
43.6%
$396
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $165 by
1974, on its way to $396 in 1988; 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 1988, prices rose 4.1% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $396; the year's average CPI of 118.3 is the level
behind every 1988 figure on this page.
By 1988, the economic expansion that began in the ashes of the 1981-82
recession was in its sixth year, and the Federal Reserve was watching for
signs it had run too long. Inflation rose to 4.1%, up from 3.6% the year
before, while unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1974. Alan
Greenspan’s Fed responded by raising the federal funds rate through the
year, from about 6.5% to 8.5%, trying to cool demand before prices
accelerated the way they had in the 1970s. Households still felt the
difference between this expansion and the last one: gas held near 90 cents
a gallon, almost exactly its 1987 price, and median household income rose
to roughly $27,200. The one price that moved was postage, which rose from
22 to 25 cents in April, the fourth increase of the decade but a far
gentler pace than the string of increases in the late 1970s and early
1980s. In November, Vice President George H.W. Bush won the presidency on
the strength of the expansion, promising in his nomination speech to hold
the line on taxes. Both the boom and that pledge would run into trouble
within two years, as the Fed’s rate increases helped tip the economy toward
the 1990-91 recession.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 1988: $100 is worth $396 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-1988/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 1988. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-1988/