$100 in 1938 is worth $806 in 1987,
because prices increased 705.7% over that period, an average of
4.35% a year.
$100 in 1938 has
the same buying power as
$806
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
705.7%
Average inflation rate
4.35% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$806
Price difference ($100 base)
$706
CPI in 1938
14.1
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1938
-2.08%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1938 → 1987
$806
$100 in 1987 → 1938
$12.41
What happened to prices between 1938 and 1987
Between 1938 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 14.1 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 705.7%, which works out to an average of
4.35% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1938 bought what
$0.12 buys in 1987: the 1938 dollar
lost 87.6% of its purchasing power over
these 49 years.
Consumer prices fell 2.1% in 1938, reversing most of 1937’s
gain and interrupting four straight years of recovery from the Depression’s
trough. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the bottom of the
downturn, which had begun that May, to June 1938, a sharp 13-month
contraction that briefly pushed unemployment back up near 19%. Even in a
year the economy was shrinking again, Congress passed one of the New Deal’s
most lasting reforms. The Fair Labor Standards Act, signed June 25 and
effective that October, established the first federal minimum wage, 25
cents an hour, capped the standard workweek at 44 hours with time-and-a-half
overtime beyond it, and restricted the employment of children in most
industries. The wage floor and hours limits applied only to workers engaged
in interstate commerce at first, but they set a precedent that would expand
in the decades that followed. Consumer prices stood 42.4% above their
1913 level and 17.5% below their 1929 peak, evidence of how
far the recovery still had to go even eight years after the Depression
began. First-class postage held at 3 cents.
Every 1938 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 8.06: $1,000 becomes
$8,057, and $10,000 becomes $80,567.
Amount in 1938
Value in 1987
$1.00
$8.06
$5.00
$40.28
$10.00
$80.57
$20.00
$161
$50.00
$403
$100
$806
$500
$4,028
$1,000
$8,057
$5,000
$40,284
$10,000
$80,567
$100,000
$805,674
$1,000,000
$8,056,738
Inflation by spending category, 1938–1987
Between 1938 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 1163.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 405.0%, against 705.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1938
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1938 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.35%
$806
Medical care
5.31%
$1,263
Food
4.67%
$938
Transportation
4.12%
$722
Apparel
3.36%
$505
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1938: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1938 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (0.4% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1938–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1938, at end
1938–1940
-0.36%
-0.7%
$99.29
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$171
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$210
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$275
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$584
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$806
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1938
$100 from 1938 had already become $214 by
1962, on its way to $806 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 1.4% in 1939, 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 1938 had the buying
power of $806; 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 1938 to 1987: $100 is worth $806 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1938-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1938 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1938-to-1987/