$100 in 1919 is worth $657 in 1987,
because prices increased 556.6% over that period, an average of
2.81% a year.
$100 in 1919 has
the same buying power as
$657
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
556.6%
Average inflation rate
2.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$657
Price difference ($100 base)
$557
CPI in 1919
17.3
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1919
14.57%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1919 → 1987
$657
$100 in 1987 → 1919
$15.23
What happened to prices between 1919 and 1987
Between 1919 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.3 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 556.6%, which works out to an average of
2.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1919 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1987: the 1919 dollar
lost 84.8% of its purchasing power over
these 68 years.
The fighting in Europe ended in November 1918, but American prices kept
climbing through 1919 almost as fast as they had during the war itself,
rising 14.6% for the year. Wartime price and production controls were being
dismantled, millions of soldiers were returning to the civilian labor
market, and demand that had been held back for years ran into supply that
had not caught up, a combination that kept the cost of living rising even
with the guns silent. Workers, whose pay had fallen behind three straight
years of double-digit inflation, pushed back: a general strike shut down
Seattle in February, Boston’s police force walked out in September, and a
nationwide steel strike that same month drew in roughly 350,000 workers and
ran into the following January. One price did fall that year: first-class
postage reverted to 2 cents on July 1, ending the wartime 3-cent rate that
had funded part of the war effort since late 1917. By year’s end, prices had
risen close to 75% since the CPI’s 1913 starting point,
compressing more than a decade of typical peacetime inflation into six years
of war and its aftermath.
Every 1919 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 6.57: $1,000 becomes
$6,566, and $10,000 becomes $65,665.
Amount in 1919
Value in 1987
$1.00
$6.57
$5.00
$32.83
$10.00
$65.66
$20.00
$131
$50.00
$328
$100
$657
$500
$3,283
$1,000
$6,566
$5,000
$32,832
$10,000
$65,665
$100,000
$656,647
$1,000,000
$6,566,474
Inflation by spending category, 1919–1987
Between 1919 and 1987, food rose the most, up 510.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 205.5%, against 556.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1919
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1919 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.81%
$657
Food
2.70%
$610
Apparel
1.66%
$306
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1919: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1919 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 15.61% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1919–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1919, at end
1919–1920
15.61%
15.6%
$116
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$96.53
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$80.92
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$139
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$171
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$224
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$476
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$657
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1919
$100 from 1919 had already become $155 by
1954, on its way to $657 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 1919 had the buying
power of $657; 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 1919 to 1987: $100 is worth $657 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1919 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1919-to-1987/