$100 in 1934 is worth $848 in 1987,
because prices increased 747.8% over that period, an average of
4.12% a year.
$100 in 1934 has
the same buying power as
$848
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
747.8%
Average inflation rate
4.12% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$848
Price difference ($100 base)
$748
CPI in 1934
13.4
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1934
3.08%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1934 → 1987
$848
$100 in 1987 → 1934
$11.80
What happened to prices between 1934 and 1987
Between 1934 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.4 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 747.8%, which works out to an average of
4.12% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1934 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1987: the 1934 dollar
lost 88.2% of its purchasing power over
these 53 years.
Consumer prices rose 3.1% in 1934, the first annual increase since 1926;
every year from 1927 through 1933 had been flat or falling,
so the turn marked a real break after eight years without a single gain.
Currency policy did some of the work. The Gold Reserve Act, signed January
30, formally devalued the dollar by raising the official price of gold from
$20.67 to $35 an ounce, part of the administration’s deliberate effort to
reflate prices after four straight years of deflation. Financial regulation
tightened at the same time: the Securities Exchange Act of June 6 created
the Securities and Exchange Commission to police stock exchanges and enforce
disclosure rules, a direct response to the speculation blamed for the 1929
crash. The recovery was fragile and unevenly felt, especially on the Great
Plains, where drought had turned overplowed farmland to dust. Over May 9-11,
high winds lifted an estimated 350 million tons of topsoil into the air,
darkening skies as far away as Washington and New York and giving city
readers who had never seen a wheat field a first glimpse of the disaster
building in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Consumer prices stood 35.4% above
their 1913 level, still well below the 1929 peak but rising
for the first time since the Depression began. First-class postage held at
3 cents.
Every 1934 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 8.48: $1,000 becomes
$8,478, and $10,000 becomes $84,776.
Amount in 1934
Value in 1987
$1.00
$8.48
$5.00
$42.39
$10.00
$84.78
$20.00
$170
$50.00
$424
$100
$848
$500
$4,239
$1,000
$8,478
$5,000
$42,388
$10,000
$84,776
$100,000
$847,761
$1,000,000
$8,477,612
Inflation by spending category, 1934–1987
Between 1934 and 1987, food rose the most, up 878.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 436.9%, against 747.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1934
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1934 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.12%
$848
Food
4.40%
$978
Apparel
3.22%
$537
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1934: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1934 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1934–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1934, at end
1934–1940
0.73%
4.5%
$104
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$180
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$221
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$290
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$615
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$848
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1934
$100 from 1934 had already become $221 by
1960, on its way to $848 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 1934 had the buying
power of $848; 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 1934 to 1987: $100 is worth $848 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1934-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1934 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1934-to-1987/