$100 in 1961 is worth $792 in 2014,
because prices increased 691.8% over that period, an average of
3.98% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$792
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
691.8%
Average inflation rate
3.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$792
Price difference ($100 base)
$692
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1961 → 2014
$792
$100 in 2014 → 1961
$12.63
What happened to prices between 1961 and 2014
Between 1961 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 691.8%, which works out to an average of
3.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.13 buys in 2014: the 1961 dollar
lost 87.4% of its purchasing power over
these 53 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 2014 at the same ratio, 7.92: $1,000 becomes
$7,918, and $10,000 becomes $79,176.
Amount in 1961
Value in 2014
$1.00
$7.92
$5.00
$39.59
$10.00
$79.18
$20.00
$158
$50.00
$396
$100
$792
$500
$3,959
$1,000
$7,918
$5,000
$39,588
$10,000
$79,176
$100,000
$791,759
$1,000,000
$7,917,592
Inflation by spending category, 1961–2014
Between 1961 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 1800.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 176.6%, against 691.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.98%
$792
Medical care
5.71%
$1,901
Energy
4.60%
$1,083
Food
4.00%
$798
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.92%
$767
Transportation
3.79%
$717
Apparel
1.94%
$277
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1961 to 2014
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1961–2014 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$729
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$792
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $380 by
1987, on its way to $792 in 2014; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $792; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 2014: $100 is worth $792 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2014/