$100 in 1915 is worth $1,125 in 1987,
because prices increased 1024.8% over that period, an average of
3.42% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$1,125
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1024.8%
Average inflation rate
3.42% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,125
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,025
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1915 → 1987
$1,125
$100 in 1987 → 1915
$8.89
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1987
Between 1915 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1024.8%, which works out to an average of
3.42% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.09 buys in 1987: the 1915 dollar
lost 91.1% of its purchasing power over
these 72 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1915, the second straight year of near-flat
inflation before the wartime price surges of 1916 through 1918. The year’s
defining event had nothing to do with prices directly: a German submarine
sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast on May 7, killing 128
Americans and hardening U.S. opinion against Germany two years before the
country entered the war. Economically, 1915 was a turning point of a
different kind. A recession that had dragged on since 1913 began lifting as
Britain and France placed growing orders for steel, munitions, and other war
materiel with American manufacturers, and U.S. exports to the Allied powers
climbed sharply through the year. That demand would keep building through
1916, eventually pulling prices up with it. On the regulatory
side, the Federal Trade Commission opened for business in March, taking on
enforcement of the Clayton Antitrust Act that Congress had passed the
previous fall. A first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, unchanged since 1885
and still two years from its first wartime increase.
Every 1915 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 11.25: $1,000 becomes
$11,248, and $10,000 becomes $112,475.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1987
$1.00
$11.25
$5.00
$56.24
$10.00
$112
$20.00
$225
$50.00
$562
$100
$1,125
$500
$5,624
$1,000
$11,248
$5,000
$56,238
$10,000
$112,475
$100,000
$1,124,752
$1,000,000
$11,247,525
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1987
Between 1915 and 1987, food rose the most, up 1035.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 622.9%, against 1024.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.42%
$1,125
Food
3.43%
$1,135
Apparel
2.79%
$723
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1915: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1915 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 14.64% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1915–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1915, at end
1915–1920
14.64%
98.0%
$198
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$165
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$139
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$239
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$293
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$384
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$816
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$1,125
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $239 by
1950, on its way to $1,125 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 1915 had the buying
power of $1,125; 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 1915 to 1987: $100 is worth $1,125 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1987/