$100 in 1961 is worth $592 in 2001,
because prices increased 492.3% over that period, an average of
4.55% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$592
in 2001
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
492.3%
Average inflation rate
4.55% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$592
Price difference ($100 base)
$492
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 2001
177.1
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 2001
2.85%
$100 in 1961 → 2001
$592
$100 in 2001 → 1961
$16.88
What happened to prices between 1961 and 2001
Between 1961 and 2001, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 177.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 492.3%, which works out to an average of
4.55% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.17 buys in 2001: the 1961 dollar
lost 83.1% of its purchasing power over
these 40 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 2001 at the same ratio, 5.92: $1,000 becomes
$5,923, and $10,000 becomes $59,231.
Amount in 1961
Value in 2001
$1.00
$5.92
$5.00
$29.62
$10.00
$59.23
$20.00
$118
$50.00
$296
$100
$592
$500
$2,962
$1,000
$5,923
$5,000
$29,615
$10,000
$59,231
$100,000
$592,308
$1,000,000
$5,923,077
Inflation by spending category, 1961–2001
Between 1961 and 2001, medical care rose the most, up 1091.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 176.1%, against 492.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 2001, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.55%
$592
Medical care
6.39%
$1,191
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.58%
$600
Energy
4.47%
$575
Food
4.44%
$569
Transportation
4.17%
$513
Apparel
2.57%
$276
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1961 to 2001
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1961–2001 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$437
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$576
2000–2001
2.85%
2.8%
$592
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $304 by
1981, on its way to $592 in 2001; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2001
In 2001, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $592; the year's average CPI of 177.1 is the level
behind every 2001 figure on this page.
Inflation fell to 2.8% in 2001 from 3.4% the year before, as a recession that began in March
cut demand and gasoline slid to an average of $1.46 a gallon. The median household earned about
$42,200, roughly flat from 2000, and a new home cost about $175,200. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate 11 times over the year, from 6.5% to 1.75%, the lowest since 1961. After the
September 11 attacks, U.S. stock markets closed for four trading days, and air travel dropped
sharply until the following year. Congress had already passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut in June,
which included rebate checks of up to $600. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the
recession’s end at November, but unemployment kept rising into 2003. A first-class stamp went to
34 cents in January, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15. The Fed’s cuts were the
first step in a long period of very cheap borrowing that would fuel the housing boom.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 2001: $100 is worth $592 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2001/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 2001. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2001/