$100 in 1961 is worth $602 in 2002,
because prices increased 501.7% over that period, an average of
4.47% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$602
in 2002
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
501.7%
Average inflation rate
4.47% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$602
Price difference ($100 base)
$502
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 2002
179.9
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 2002
1.58%
$100 in 1961 → 2002
$602
$100 in 2002 → 1961
$16.62
What happened to prices between 1961 and 2002
Between 1961 and 2002, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 179.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 501.7%, which works out to an average of
4.47% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.17 buys in 2002: the 1961 dollar
lost 83.4% of its purchasing power over
these 41 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 2002 at the same ratio, 6.02: $1,000 becomes
$6,017, and $10,000 becomes $60,167.
Amount in 1961
Value in 2002
$1.00
$6.02
$5.00
$30.08
$10.00
$60.17
$20.00
$120
$50.00
$301
$100
$602
$500
$3,008
$1,000
$6,017
$5,000
$30,084
$10,000
$60,167
$100,000
$601,672
$1,000,000
$6,016,722
Inflation by spending category, 1961–2002
Between 1961 and 2002, medical care rose the most, up 1147.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 169.0%, against 501.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 2002, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.47%
$602
Medical care
6.35%
$1,247
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.53%
$615
Food
4.38%
$580
Energy
4.20%
$541
Transportation
4.04%
$508
Apparel
2.44%
$269
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1961 to 2002
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1961–2002 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
2000–2002
2.21%
4.5%
$602
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $304 by
1981, on its way to $602 in 2002; 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: 2002
In 2002, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $602; the year's average CPI of 179.9 is the level
behind every 2002 figure on this page.
The CPI rose 1.6% in 2002, the lowest annual rate of the decade so far, with gasoline down to an
average of $1.36 a gallon and slack in the labor market keeping wage pressure low. The median
household earned about $42,400, and a new home cost roughly $187,600, an increase of about 7%
from the year before as low mortgage rates began to lift housing. The Federal Reserve cut its
policy rate to 1.25% in November. Stocks were moving the other way: after the Enron and WorldCom
scandals, the S&P 500 hit its bear-market low on October 9, about 49% below its March 2000
peak, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in July to tighten corporate accounting rules.
On January 1, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 European countries. A
first-class stamp rose to 37 cents in June, and the federal minimum wage stayed at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 2002: $100 is worth $602 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2002/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 2002. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2002/