$100 in 1918 is worth $752 in 1987,
because prices increased 652.3% over that period, an average of
2.97% a year.
$100 in 1918 has
the same buying power as
$752
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
652.3%
Average inflation rate
2.97% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$752
Price difference ($100 base)
$652
CPI in 1918
15.1
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1918
17.97%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1918 → 1987
$752
$100 in 1987 → 1918
$13.29
What happened to prices between 1918 and 1987
Between 1918 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.1 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 652.3%, which works out to an average of
2.97% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1918 bought what
$0.13 buys in 1987: the 1918 dollar
lost 86.7% of its purchasing power over
these 69 years.
1918 brought the steepest annual price increase the CPI had recorded:
consumer prices rose 18.0% for the year, edging out 1917’s already sharp
17.4% as the economy stayed at full wartime mobilization for most of the
year. A first-class stamp cost 3 cents, up from 2 cents the previous
November under the War Revenue Act’s wartime tax increases. The war itself
ended on November 11, when Germany signed an armistice with the Allied
powers after more than four years of fighting in Europe, but the inflation
built up over a year and a half of mobilization did not disappear along with
the fighting. The bigger public health story that year was the influenza
pandemic that reached the U.S. in a mild spring wave and then returned that
fall in a far deadlier form, eventually killing roughly 675,000 Americans,
more than the country’s combat losses in the war. It hit factories, docks,
and shops alongside households, adding disruption to an economy already
strained by wartime demand. Prices would keep climbing even after the
armistice, into the postwar surge of 1919.
Every 1918 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 7.52: $1,000 becomes
$7,523, and $10,000 becomes $75,232.
Amount in 1918
Value in 1987
$1.00
$7.52
$5.00
$37.62
$10.00
$75.23
$20.00
$150
$50.00
$376
$100
$752
$500
$3,762
$1,000
$7,523
$5,000
$37,616
$10,000
$75,232
$100,000
$752,318
$1,000,000
$7,523,179
Inflation by spending category, 1918–1987
Between 1918 and 1987, food rose the most, up 579.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 305.1%, against 652.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1918
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1918 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.97%
$752
Food
2.82%
$680
Apparel
2.05%
$405
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1918: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1918 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 15.09% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1918–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1918, at end
1918–1920
15.09%
32.5%
$132
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$111
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$92.72
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$160
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$196
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$257
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$546
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$752
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1918
$100 from 1918 had already become $177 by
1953, on its way to $752 in 1987; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 15.6% in 1920, 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 1918 had the buying
power of $752; 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 1918 to 1987: $100 is worth $752 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1918 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1918-to-1987/