$100 in 1927 is worth $653 in 1987,
because prices increased 552.9% over that period, an average of
3.18% a year.
$100 in 1927 has
the same buying power as
$653
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
552.9%
Average inflation rate
3.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$653
Price difference ($100 base)
$553
CPI in 1927
17.4
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1927
-1.69%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1927 → 1987
$653
$100 in 1987 → 1927
$15.32
What happened to prices between 1927 and 1987
Between 1927 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.4 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 552.9%, which works out to an average of
3.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1927 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1987: the 1927 dollar
lost 84.7% of its purchasing power over
these 60 years.
Consumer prices fell 1.7% in 1927, a mild retreat after three years of
gradual increases and part of a shallow up-and-down pattern that ran through
the second half of the decade. Aviation delivered the year’s signature
moment: Charles Lindbergh departed Roosevelt Field, New York, on May 20 and
landed at Le Bourget Field outside Paris roughly 33.5 hours later, the first
person to fly the Atlantic solo and nonstop. Detroit closed a chapter of its
own that May, when Ford halted the Model T’s production line after nearly 19
years and more than 15 million cars sold, idling tens of thousands of
workers while its factories retooled for the Model A. The Federal Reserve,
meeting with European central bankers that summer, cut its discount rate to
ease pressure on currencies still recovering from the war, a move later
cited by economists including Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz as fuel for
the stock market speculation that built through the following two years.
First-class postage held at 2 cents.
Every 1927 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 6.53: $1,000 becomes
$6,529, and $10,000 becomes $65,287.
Amount in 1927
Value in 1987
$1.00
$6.53
$5.00
$32.64
$10.00
$65.29
$20.00
$131
$50.00
$326
$100
$653
$500
$3,264
$1,000
$6,529
$5,000
$32,644
$10,000
$65,287
$100,000
$652,874
$1,000,000
$6,528,736
Inflation by spending category, 1927–1987
Between 1927 and 1987, food rose the most, up 592.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 337.2%, against 552.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1927
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1927 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.18%
$653
Food
3.28%
$692
Apparel
2.49%
$437
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1927: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1927 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 1927–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1927, at end
1927–1930
-1.36%
-4.0%
$95.98
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$80.46
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$139
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$170
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$223
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$474
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$653
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1927
$100 from 1927 had already become $161 by
1957, on its way to $653 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1987
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1927 had the buying
power of $653; 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 1927 to 1987: $100 is worth $653 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1927 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1927-to-1987/