$100 in 1926 is worth $642 in 1987,
because prices increased 541.8% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$642
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
541.8%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$642
Price difference ($100 base)
$542
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1926 → 1987
$642
$100 in 1987 → 1926
$15.58
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1987
Between 1926 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 541.8%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1987: the 1926 dollar
lost 84.4% of its purchasing power over
these 61 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.1% in 1926, a third straight year of mild inflation
and part of the price stability that defined the middle of the decade.
Florida’s real estate boom, which had peaked the previous year on
speculative buying of undeveloped land, ended abruptly that September when
the Great Miami Hurricane made landfall near the city, killing hundreds and
wrecking the market for land whose value had rested on continued
speculation rather than anything underneath it. In Detroit, Henry Ford moved
his company to a five-day, 40-hour work week without cutting pay, a break
from the standard six-day schedule that other large employers would
gradually adopt over the following decades; Ford argued publicly that
workers with more leisure time would also become better customers for the
cars his factories built. Consumer prices remained low enough by historical
standards that a first-class stamp still cost just 2 cents, the same price
it had held since mid-1919.
Every 1926 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 6.42: $1,000 becomes
$6,418, and $10,000 becomes $64,181.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1987
$1.00
$6.42
$5.00
$32.09
$10.00
$64.18
$20.00
$128
$50.00
$321
$100
$642
$500
$3,209
$1,000
$6,418
$5,000
$32,090
$10,000
$64,181
$100,000
$641,808
$1,000,000
$6,418,079
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1987
Between 1926 and 1987, food rose the most, up 567.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 327.0%, against 541.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$642
Food
3.16%
$668
Apparel
2.41%
$427
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1926: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1926 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 1926–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1926, at end
1926–1930
-1.44%
-5.6%
$94.35
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$79.10
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$136
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$167
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$219
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$466
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$642
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $154 by
1956, on its way to $642 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 1926 had the buying
power of $642; 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 1926 to 1987: $100 is worth $642 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1987/