$100 in 1961 is worth $855 in 2019,
because prices increased 755.0% over that period, an average of
3.77% a year.
$100 in 1961 has
the same buying power as
$855
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
755.0%
Average inflation rate
3.77% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$855
Price difference ($100 base)
$755
CPI in 1961
29.9
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1961
1.01%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1961 → 2019
$855
$100 in 2019 → 1961
$11.70
What happened to prices between 1961 and 2019
Between 1961 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.9 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 755.0%, which works out to an average of
3.77% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1961 bought what
$0.12 buys in 2019: the 1961 dollar
lost 88.3% of its purchasing power over
these 58 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 2019 at the same ratio, 8.55: $1,000 becomes
$8,550, and $10,000 becomes $85,504.
Amount in 1961
Value in 2019
$1.00
$8.55
$5.00
$42.75
$10.00
$85.50
$20.00
$171
$50.00
$428
$100
$855
$500
$4,275
$1,000
$8,550
$5,000
$42,752
$10,000
$85,504
$100,000
$855,040
$1,000,000
$8,550,401
Inflation by spending category, 1961–2019
Between 1961 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 2076.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 169.1%, against 755.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1961
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1961 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.77%
$855
Medical care
5.45%
$2,176
Energy
3.97%
$957
Food
3.76%
$850
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.76%
$849
Transportation
3.41%
$698
Apparel
1.72%
$269
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1961: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1961 to 2019
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1961–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$855
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1961
$100 from 1961 had already become $415 by
1989, on its way to $855 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1961 had the buying
power of $855; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1961 to 2019: $100 is worth $855 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1961 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1961-to-2019/