$100 in 1929 is worth $664 in 1987,
because prices increased 564.3% over that period, an average of
3.32% a year.
$100 in 1929 has
the same buying power as
$664
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
564.3%
Average inflation rate
3.32% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$664
Price difference ($100 base)
$564
CPI in 1929
17.1
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1929
0.00%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1929 → 1987
$664
$100 in 1987 → 1929
$15.05
What happened to prices between 1929 and 1987
Between 1929 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
3.32% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1929 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1987: the 1929 dollar
lost 84.9% of its purchasing power over
these 58 years.
Consumer prices were unchanged in 1929, the CPI’s annual average flat for
the second time in six years and a fitting close to a decade that began with
wartime inflation and ended in rough price stability. By year’s end the
index stood 14.5% below its 1920 peak and roughly 73% above its
1913 starting point, a reminder that even a “stable” decade
left prices well above where they had started. The stability in the cost of
living masked what was building in financial markets. The National Bureau
of Economic Research dates the start of the Great Depression to that
August, the month the business cycle peaked, months before most Americans
noticed anything was wrong. The break came that October: panic selling hit
Wall Street on Black Thursday, October 24, and returned even worse on Black
Tuesday, October 29, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 12% in
a single session. Billions of dollars in paper wealth disappeared within
days, and the crash marked the start of a downturn that would pull consumer
prices into their steepest sustained decline of the 20th century over the
next four years. First-class postage was still 2 cents, a price that would
hold until 1932.
Every 1929 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 6.64: $1,000 becomes
$6,643, and $10,000 becomes $66,433.
Amount in 1929
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, 1929–1987
Between 1929 and 1987, food rose the most, up 587.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 347.8%, against 564.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1929
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1929 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.32%
$664
Food
3.38%
$688
Apparel
2.62%
$448
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1929: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1929 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1920s (2.3% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1929–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1929, at end
1929–1930
-2.34%
-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 1929
$100 from 1929 had already become $164 by
1957, 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 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1987
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1929 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 1929 to 1987: $100 is worth $664 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1929-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1929 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1929-to-1987/