Value of a Dollar in 1960
The early 1960s had inflation near 1% a year. By the end of the decade the Great Inflation had begun.
More optionsYear average → today (August 2026)
A month compares month to month, as BLS’s own calculator does.
Worth in
$1 in 1960 is worth
$11.32in August 2026
Prices rose 1031.7% in between, so $1 of 1960 goods costs $11.32 in August 2026.
The price of $1 of 1960 goods, year by year
- Total inflation
- +1031.7%
- Average a year
- 3.74%
- $1 of cash now buys
- $0.09 of 1960 goods
Official CPI-U data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through August 2026. These are averages for urban consumers, not advice. Terms
How this works: Method, 6 sources,
How this works
Method
A dollar from 1960 is worth what its goods cost now: the amount × the CPI now ÷ the CPI in 1960. For 1960 the calculator uses BLS’s annual average, the mean of the twelve monthly indexes; pick a month above for a month-to-month figure, which is how BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator works. Full method
Sources
Limits
Official CPI-U data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through August 2026. These are averages for urban consumers, not advice.
Changes
- First version: what a dollar is worth from 1913 to August 2026, your own inflation rate, whether a raise beat inflation, the current rate, the rate by year and 12 year pages.
$1 from 1960, worked out
The CPI-U averaged 29.6 in 1960 and 334.980 in August 2026. Divide the two: 334.980 ÷ 29.6 = 11.317, so $1 of 1960 goods costs $11.32 now. The same factor scales any amount: $1,000 in 1960 is $11,317 today, a total rise of 1032% or 3.74% a year over 66 years.
From calm to the Great Inflation
The early 1960s were one of the calmest stretches in the record: from 1961 to 1964 the CPI rose between 1.0% and 1.3% a year. The index averaged 29.6 in 1960.
Then the Great Inflation began. The Fed’s historians date it from 1965 to 1982: inflation began ratcheting upward in the mid-1960s, and by 1969 the annual average was rising 5.5%. The dollar was still tied to gold through the Bretton Woods agreement, and as inflation drifted higher more dollars were turned in for gold, until President Nixon stopped foreign central banks exchanging them in the summer of 1971.
So a 1960 dollar lost value slowly for five years, then faster: prices rose 6.4% from 1960 to 1965 and 23.2% from 1965 to 1970.
- From 1961 to 1964 the CPI rose between 1.0% and 1.3% a year. Source: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0).
- The Great Inflation lasted from 1965 to 1982; inflation began ratcheting upward in the mid-1960s. Source: Federal Reserve History, The Great Inflation.
How the value of a dollar is worked out
A dollar from 1960 is worth what its goods cost now: the amount × the CPI now ÷ the CPI in 1960. For 1960 the calculator uses BLS’s annual average, the mean of the twelve monthly indexes; pick a month above for a month-to-month figure, which is how BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator works.
The index is the CPI-U, all items, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted: the series BLS publishes back to 1913. It measures the prices urban consumers pay, so it says what a dollar buys, not what an investment earned.
value now = amount × CPI(August 2026) ÷ CPI(1960)
$1 from 1960 in later years
What $1 of 1960 goods cost in each later year (annual averages), with that year’s inflation; the last row is the latest month.
| Year | CPI-U | $1 from 1960 | Inflation that year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 29.6 | $1 | +1.7% |
| 1965 | 31.5 | $1.06 | +1.6% |
| 1970 | 38.8 | $1.31 | +5.7% |
| 1975 | 53.8 | $1.82 | +9.1% |
| 1980 | 82.4 | $2.78 | +13.5% |
| 1985 | 107.6 | $3.64 | +3.6% |
| 1990 | 130.7 | $4.42 | +5.4% |
| 1995 | 152.4 | $5.15 | +2.8% |
| 2000 | 172.2 | $5.82 | +3.4% |
| 2005 | 195.3 | $6.60 | +3.4% |
Show all 15 rowsShow fewer
| 2010 | 218.056 | $7.37 | +1.6% |
| 2015 | 237.017 | $8.01 | +0.1% |
| 2020 | 258.811 | $8.74 | +1.2% |
| 2025 | 321.943 | $10.88 | +2.6% |
| August 2026 | 334.980 | $11.32 | +3.4% (12 months) |
Data: BLS, CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0) · BLS, CPI-U all items, seasonally adjusted (CUSR0000SA0) · BLS, Consumer Price Index data · BLS, Relative importance of CPI components, December 2025 · BLS, Average hourly earnings, total private (CES0500000003). Inflation calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the Great Inflation start?
In 1965, by the Federal Reserve’s own history. The 12-month change in the CPI began rising that January and kept climbing, with pauses, until it peaked at close to 15% in March 1980.
What was $1 from 1960 worth in 1970?
About $1.31. Most of that came after 1965; in the early 1960s prices rose only about 1% a year.
What is $10,000 from 1960 worth today?
About $113,169 in August 2026 prices.