$100 in 1935 is worth $829 in 1987,
because prices increased 729.2% over that period, an average of
4.15% a year.
$100 in 1935 has
the same buying power as
$829
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
729.2%
Average inflation rate
4.15% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$829
Price difference ($100 base)
$729
CPI in 1935
13.7
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1935
2.24%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1935 → 1987
$829
$100 in 1987 → 1935
$12.06
What happened to prices between 1935 and 1987
Between 1935 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.7 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 729.2%, which works out to an average of
4.15% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1935 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1987: the 1935 dollar
lost 87.9% of its purchasing power over
these 52 years.
Consumer prices rose 2.2% in 1935, a second straight annual increase after
1934’s turnaround, though the CPI still sat well below its
1929 peak and the recovery remained uneven and incomplete.
The year’s biggest legislative achievements aimed at making that unevenness
less punishing. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14,
creating federal old-age pensions and unemployment insurance funded by a new
payroll tax, the first federal safety net of its kind in U.S. history. That
spring, the Works Progress Administration had already begun putting millions
of unemployed Americans to work on public construction, arts, and
infrastructure projects, becoming the largest jobs program of the New Deal.
Congress added labor protections to the mix that July with the National
Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing most private-sector workers the right to
organize and bargain collectively. The human cost of the Dust Bowl was still
mounting on the Plains: the storm known as Black Sunday hit on April 14,
one of the worst of the decade, and continued drought kept driving farm
families off land that could no longer support them. Consumer prices ended
the year 38.4% above their 1913 level. First-class postage
held at 3 cents.
Every 1935 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 8.29: $1,000 becomes
$8,292, and $10,000 becomes $82,920.
Amount in 1935
Value in 1987
$1.00
$8.29
$5.00
$41.46
$10.00
$82.92
$20.00
$166
$50.00
$415
$100
$829
$500
$4,146
$1,000
$8,292
$5,000
$41,460
$10,000
$82,920
$100,000
$829,197
$1,000,000
$8,291,971
Inflation by spending category, 1935–1987
Between 1935 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 1175.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 431.7%, against 729.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1935
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1935 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.15%
$829
Medical care
5.02%
$1,275
Food
4.35%
$915
Transportation
3.93%
$742
Apparel
3.27%
$532
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1935: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1935 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.43% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1935–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1935, at end
1935–1940
0.43%
2.2%
$102
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$176
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$216
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$283
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$601
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$829
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1935
$100 from 1935 had already become $218 by
1961, on its way to $829 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 1935 had the buying
power of $829; 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 1935 to 1987: $100 is worth $829 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1935 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1935-to-1987/