$100 in 1920 is worth $568 in 1987,
because prices increased 468.0% over that period, an average of
2.63% a year.
$100 in 1920 has
the same buying power as
$568
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
468.0%
Average inflation rate
2.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$568
Price difference ($100 base)
$468
CPI in 1920
20
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1920
15.61%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1920 → 1987
$568
$100 in 1987 → 1920
$17.61
What happened to prices between 1920 and 1987
Between 1920 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 20 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 468.0%, which works out to an average of
2.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1920 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1987: the 1920 dollar
lost 82.4% of its purchasing power over
these 67 years.
1920 was the last year of the inflation that had built since the war began:
consumer prices rose 15.6% for the year, leaving the CPI more than double its
1913 starting level after seven straight years of increases.
The boom behind those increases turned to bust before the year was over. The
Federal Reserve, worried about speculation, pushed its discount rate to a
record 7% that spring, and wholesale prices, which had led the wartime
runup, began collapsing within months. The National Bureau of Economic
Research dates the resulting downturn from January 1920 to July 1921, one of
the shortest but steepest contractions in U.S. history, and consumer prices
followed into outright decline, falling 10.5% in 1921. Two constitutional
changes reshaped the country that year, too. The 18th Amendment’s ban on
alcohol took legal effect January 17, enforced under the Volstead Act
Congress had passed the previous October. Then, on August 18, Tennessee’s
ratification of the 19th Amendment secured women’s right to vote nationwide,
and women cast ballots in a presidential election for the first time that
November, when Warren Harding won on a promise to return the country to
“normalcy” after a decade of war, pandemic, and rising prices. First-class
postage held at 2 cents, unchanged since mid-1919.
Every 1920 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 5.68: $1,000 becomes
$5,680, and $10,000 becomes $56,800.
Amount in 1920
Value in 1987
$1.00
$5.68
$5.00
$28.40
$10.00
$56.80
$20.00
$114
$50.00
$284
$100
$568
$500
$2,840
$1,000
$5,680
$5,000
$28,400
$10,000
$56,800
$100,000
$568,000
$1,000,000
$5,680,000
Inflation by spending category, 1920–1987
Between 1920 and 1987, food rose the most, up 440.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 156.6%, against 468.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1920
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1920 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.63%
$568
Food
2.55%
$540
Apparel
1.42%
$257
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1920: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1920 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1920–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1920, at end
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$83.50
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$70.00
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$121
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$148
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$194
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$412
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$568
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1920
$100 from 1920 had already become $134 by
1955, on its way to $568 in 1987; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, 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 1920 had the buying
power of $568; 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 1920 to 1987: $100 is worth $568 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1920 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1920-to-1987/