$100 in 1936 is worth $817 in 1987,
because prices increased 717.3% over that period, an average of
4.21% a year.
$100 in 1936 has
the same buying power as
$817
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
717.3%
Average inflation rate
4.21% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$817
Price difference ($100 base)
$717
CPI in 1936
13.9
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1936
1.46%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1936 → 1987
$817
$100 in 1987 → 1936
$12.24
What happened to prices between 1936 and 1987
Between 1936 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 13.9 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 717.3%, which works out to an average of
4.21% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1936 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1987: the 1936 dollar
lost 87.8% of its purchasing power over
these 51 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.5% in 1936, a third straight annual increase and part
of a slow, steady climb back from the 1933 trough, though
prices and the broader economy still had not fully recovered to their
pre-Depression levels. Voters delivered their verdict on that recovery in
November, reelecting Franklin D. Roosevelt over Republican Alf Landon in one
of the most lopsided elections in U.S. history: Roosevelt carried 46 of 48
states and won the Electoral College 523 to 8, a broad public endorsement of
the New Deal. Public works kept advancing that year, too. Hoover Dam, one of
the era’s signature projects, had been dedicated in September 1935, but its
first generators did not begin sending electricity over transmission lines
to Los Angeles until October 1936, a milestone that showed how long even a
celebrated project took to reach full operation. Consumer prices ended the
year 40.4% above their 1913 level, still 18.7% below the
1929 peak, a gap that would keep narrowing until a sharp new recession
interrupted the recovery the following year. First-class postage held at 3
cents.
Every 1936 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 8.17: $1,000 becomes
$8,173, and $10,000 becomes $81,727.
Amount in 1936
Value in 1987
$1.00
$8.17
$5.00
$40.86
$10.00
$81.73
$20.00
$163
$50.00
$409
$100
$817
$500
$4,086
$1,000
$8,173
$5,000
$40,863
$10,000
$81,727
$100,000
$817,266
$1,000,000
$8,172,662
Inflation by spending category, 1936–1987
Between 1936 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 1175.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 426.7%, against 717.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1936
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1936 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.21%
$817
Medical care
5.12%
$1,275
Food
4.40%
$901
Transportation
3.99%
$737
Apparel
3.31%
$527
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1936: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1936 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1930s (0.18% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1936–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1936, at end
1936–1940
0.18%
0.7%
$101
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$173
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$213
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$279
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$593
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$817
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1936
$100 from 1936 had already become $217 by
1962, on its way to $817 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 1936 had the buying
power of $817; 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 1936 to 1987: $100 is worth $817 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1936 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1936-to-1987/