$100 in 1933 is worth $874 in 1987,
because prices increased 773.8% over that period, an average of
4.10% a year.
$100 in 1933 has
the same buying power as
$874
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
773.8%
Average inflation rate
4.10% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$874
Price difference ($100 base)
$774
CPI in 1933
13
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1933
-5.11%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1933 → 1987
$874
$100 in 1987 → 1933
$11.44
What happened to prices between 1933 and 1987
Between 1933 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 13 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 773.8%, which works out to an average of
4.10% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1933 bought what
$0.11 buys in 1987: the 1933 dollar
lost 88.6% of its purchasing power over
these 54 years.
Consumer prices fell 5.1% in 1933, a smaller decline than 1932’s
but enough to complete a four-year slide of 24.0% from the 1929
peak. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the trough of that
contraction to March 1933, closing out the longest downturn in its
chronology, one that had run 43 months since August 1929. The bottom
arrived alongside a change in government: Franklin D. Roosevelt was
inaugurated March 4 and, within 48 hours, ordered every bank in the country
closed to halt a fresh round of runs. Congress passed the Emergency Banking
Act on March 9, letting solvent banks reopen under federal supervision, and
the panic that had been building for months broke almost immediately. The
administration moved on the currency next: Executive Order 6102, issued
April 5, required Americans to turn in most gold coin, bullion, and
certificates to the Federal Reserve, taking the country off the domestic
gold standard (formal devaluation of the dollar followed the next January).
Congress capped the year’s banking overhaul in June with the Banking Act of
1933, commonly called Glass-Steagall, which created the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation and separated commercial banking from investment
banking. Even after four straight years of falling prices, the CPI still
stood 31.3% above its 1913 level. First-class postage held at
3 cents.
Every 1933 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 8.74: $1,000 becomes
$8,738, and $10,000 becomes $87,385.
Amount in 1933
Value in 1987
$1.00
$8.74
$5.00
$43.69
$10.00
$87.38
$20.00
$175
$50.00
$437
$100
$874
$500
$4,369
$1,000
$8,738
$5,000
$43,692
$10,000
$87,385
$100,000
$873,846
$1,000,000
$8,738,462
Inflation by spending category, 1933–1987
Between 1933 and 1987, food rose the most, up 991.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 488.3%, against 773.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1933
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1933 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.10%
$874
Food
4.53%
$1,091
Apparel
3.34%
$588
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1933: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1933 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (1.06% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1933–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1933, at end
1933–1940
1.06%
7.7%
$108
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$185
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$228
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$298
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$634
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$874
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1933
$100 from 1933 had already become $224 by
1959, on its way to $874 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 2.1% in 1938, 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 1933 had the buying
power of $874; 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 1933 to 1987: $100 is worth $874 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1933 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1933-to-1987/