$100 in 1914 is worth $1,136 in 1987,
because prices increased 1036.0% over that period, an average of
3.38% a year.
$100 in 1914 has
the same buying power as
$1,136
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1036.0%
Average inflation rate
3.38% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,136
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,036
CPI in 1914
10
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1914
1.01%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1914 → 1987
$1,136
$100 in 1987 → 1914
$8.80
What happened to prices between 1914 and 1987
Between 1914 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 10 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1036.0%, which works out to an average of
3.38% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1914 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1987: the 1914 dollar
lost 91.2% of its purchasing power over
these 73 years.
Consumer prices barely moved in 1914, rising just 1.0% for the year, even as
the country’s financial plumbing was rebuilt from the ground up. The Federal
Reserve Banks, created by the Federal Reserve Act signed the previous
December, opened their doors on November 16, giving the U.S. a central bank
for the first time since the 1830s. Weeks earlier, the outbreak of war in
Europe had spooked the New York Stock Exchange into closing for more than
four months, the longest shutdown in its history, as officials worried
European investors would dump American securities for gold. Domestically, the
bigger story was labor: Henry Ford’s decision to pay factory workers $5 a
day, announced in January, roughly doubled wages on his assembly lines and
pushed other manufacturers to raise pay just to keep workers from leaving. A
first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, a price that had held since 1885 and
would keep holding for three more years, even as the war reshaping Europe
began pulling the American economy toward the sustained wartime inflation of
1917.
Every 1914 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 11.36: $1,000 becomes
$11,360, and $10,000 becomes $113,600.
Amount in 1914
Value in 1987
$1.00
$11.36
$5.00
$56.80
$10.00
$114
$20.00
$227
$50.00
$568
$100
$1,136
$500
$5,680
$1,000
$11,360
$5,000
$56,800
$10,000
$113,600
$100,000
$1,136,000
$1,000,000
$11,360,000
Inflation by spending category, 1914–1987
Between 1914 and 1987, food rose the most, up 1012.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 637.3%, against 1036.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1914
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1914 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.38%
$1,136
Food
3.36%
$1,113
Apparel
2.77%
$737
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1914: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1914 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 12.25% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1914–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1914, at end
1914–1920
12.25%
100.0%
$200
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$167
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$140
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$241
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$296
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$388
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$824
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$1,136
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1914
$100 from 1914 had already become $238 by
1949, on its way to $1,136 in 1987; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 18.0% in 1918, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1987
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1914 had the buying
power of $1,136; the year's average CPI of 113.6 is the level
behind every 1987 figure on this page.
1987 tested whether the disinflation of the 1980s could survive its first
real shock. Paul Volcker, who had run the Federal Reserve since 1979 and
driven inflation down from 13.5% to routine mid-single digits, handed the
chairmanship to Alan Greenspan in August. Inflation for the year came in at
3.6%, edging up as the expansion entered its fifth year and a weaker
dollar, following 1985’s Plaza Accord, pushed up the price of imported
goods. Then, on October 19, the stock market delivered Greenspan’s first
crisis: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6% in a single session,
still the largest one-day percentage drop in its history, as computer-driven
“portfolio insurance” trading amplified a global sell-off that had started
days earlier. The Fed responded within 24 hours, publicly pledging to
supply whatever liquidity the banking system needed, and the panic did not
spread to the broader economy. Growth continued and unemployment kept
falling through the rest of the year. It was an early demonstration of what
became known as the “Greenspan put,” a Fed willing to move fast and loosen
policy to contain financial shocks even while still watching inflation,
that shaped central banking for the next two decades.
MLA: “Inflation from 1914 to 1987: $100 is worth $1,136 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1914 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1914-to-1987/