$100 in 1961 is worth $720 in 2008,
because prices increased 620.1% over that period, an average of
4.29% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$720
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
620.1%
Average inflation rate
4.29% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$720
Price difference ($100 base)
$620
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1961 → 2008
$720
$100 in 2008 → 1961
$13.89
What happened to prices between 1961 and 2008
Between 1961 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 620.1%, which works out to an average of
4.29% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2008: the 1961 dollar
lost 86.1% of its purchasing power over
these 47 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 2008 at the same ratio, 7.20: $1,000 becomes
$7,201, and $10,000 becomes $72,008.
Amount in 1961
Value in 2008
$1.00
$7.20
$5.00
$36.00
$10.00
$72.01
$20.00
$144
$50.00
$360
$100
$720
$500
$3,600
$1,000
$7,201
$5,000
$36,004
$10,000
$72,008
$100,000
$720,077
$1,000,000
$7,200,769
Inflation by spending category, 1961–2008
Between 1961 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 1489.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 157.9%, against 620.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.29%
$720
Medical care
6.06%
$1,590
Energy
5.13%
$1,052
Food
4.24%
$704
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.21%
$695
Transportation
4.06%
$650
Apparel
2.04%
$258
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1961 to 2008
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 1961–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$720
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $360 by
1985, on its way to $720 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $720; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 2008: $100 is worth $720 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2008/