$100 in 1923 is worth $664 in 1987,
because prices increased 564.3% over that period, an average of
3.00% a year.
$100 in 1923 has
the same buying power as
$664
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
564.3%
Average inflation rate
3.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$664
Price difference ($100 base)
$564
CPI in 1923
17.1
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1923
1.79%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1923 → 1987
$664
$100 in 1987 → 1923
$15.05
What happened to prices between 1923 and 1987
Between 1923 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.1 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 564.3%, which works out to an average of
3.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1923 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1987: the 1923 dollar
lost 84.9% of its purchasing power over
these 64 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.8% in 1923, the first increase since 1920 and a sign
the postwar deflation had run its course; the economy settled into the
steadier growth that defined much of the rest of the decade. The year’s
biggest shock was political rather than economic: Warren Harding died August
2 in San Francisco while returning from a trip to Alaska, and Vice President
Calvin Coolidge was sworn in the next day at his family’s farmhouse in
Plymouth Notch, Vermont, administered the oath of office by his own father,
a notary public, by lamplight. Coolidge would go on to preside over the low,
stable inflation of the “Roaring Twenties.” The contrast with Germany that
year was stark. The Weimar Republic’s currency collapse reached its peak in
November 1923, with prices doubling every few days and a loaf of bread
costing billions of marks; Germany introduced a new currency, the
Rentenmark, that month to halt the spiral. U.S. consumer prices, by
comparison, had moved in single digits or held flat every year since 1921, a
gap that shaped how American economists would later think about what made
the postwar inflation of Europe so different from the mild swings at home.
First-class postage stayed at 2 cents.
Every 1923 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 6.64: $1,000 becomes
$6,643, and $10,000 becomes $66,433.
Amount in 1923
Value in 1987
$1.00
$6.64
$5.00
$33.22
$10.00
$66.43
$20.00
$133
$50.00
$332
$100
$664
$500
$3,322
$1,000
$6,643
$5,000
$33,216
$10,000
$66,433
$100,000
$664,327
$1,000,000
$6,643,275
Inflation by spending category, 1923–1987
Between 1923 and 1987, food rose the most, up 637.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 308.1%, against 564.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1923
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1923 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.00%
$664
Food
3.17%
$737
Apparel
2.22%
$408
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1923: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1923 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1923–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1923, at end
1923–1930
-0.34%
-2.3%
$97.66
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$81.87
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$141
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$173
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$227
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$482
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$664
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1923
$100 from 1923 had already become $156 by
1953, on its way to $664 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 9.9% in 1932, 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 1923 had the buying
power of $664; 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 1923 to 1987: $100 is worth $664 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1923-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1923 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1923-to-1987/