$100 in 1930 is worth $680 in 1987,
because prices increased 580.2% over that period, an average of
3.42% a year.
$100 in 1930 has
the same buying power as
$680
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
580.2%
Average inflation rate
3.42% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$680
Price difference ($100 base)
$580
CPI in 1930
16.7
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1930
-2.34%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1930 → 1987
$680
$100 in 1987 → 1930
$14.70
What happened to prices between 1930 and 1987
Between 1930 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.7 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 580.2%, which works out to an average of
3.42% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1930 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1987: the 1930 dollar
lost 85.3% of its purchasing power over
these 57 years.
Consumer prices fell 2.3% in 1930, a mild decline compared with what was
coming but the first sign that the summer 1929 downturn was not going to be
short. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that contraction from
August 1929, and by the time it finally bottomed out in March 1933 it would
run 43 months, the longest of any downturn in the NBER’s chronology back to
1854. Congress made the trade picture worse in June, when President Hoover
signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising duties on more than 20,000
imported goods to some of the highest levels in a century. Trading partners
retaliated with tariffs of their own, and global trade volumes collapsed
over the next several years, deepening a downturn economists still debate
how much the tariff itself worsened. The financial system cracked that fall:
a regional banking panic culminated in the December 11 failure of the Bank
of United States in New York, at the time the largest bank failure in
American history, wiping out more than $200 million in deposits. It was the
first of four banking panics that would hit the country before 1933 was
out. Consumer prices still stood 68.7% above their 1913
starting point, but the direction had clearly turned. First-class postage
held at 2 cents, unchanged for eleven straight years.
Every 1930 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 6.80: $1,000 becomes
$6,802, and $10,000 becomes $68,024.
Amount in 1930
Value in 1987
$1.00
$6.80
$5.00
$34.01
$10.00
$68.02
$20.00
$136
$50.00
$340
$100
$680
$500
$3,401
$1,000
$6,802
$5,000
$34,012
$10,000
$68,024
$100,000
$680,240
$1,000,000
$6,802,395
Inflation by spending category, 1930–1987
Between 1930 and 1987, food rose the most, up 627.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 357.0%, against 580.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1930
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1930 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.42%
$680
Food
3.54%
$728
Apparel
2.70%
$457
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1930: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1930 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 1930–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1930, at end
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$83.83
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$144
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$177
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$232
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$493
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$680
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1930
$100 from 1930 had already become $173 by
1958, on its way to $680 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 1930 had the buying
power of $680; 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 1930 to 1987: $100 is worth $680 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1930-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1930 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1930-to-1987/