$100 in 1944 is worth $645 in 1987,
because prices increased 545.5% over that period, an average of
4.43% a year.
$100 in 1944 has
the same buying power as
$645
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
545.5%
Average inflation rate
4.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$645
Price difference ($100 base)
$545
CPI in 1944
17.6
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1944
1.73%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1944 → 1987
$645
$100 in 1987 → 1944
$15.49
What happened to prices between 1944 and 1987
Between 1944 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.6 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 545.5%, which works out to an average of
4.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1944 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1987: the 1944 dollar
lost 84.5% of its purchasing power over
these 43 years.
Consumer prices rose just 1.7% in 1944, down from 1943’s
6.1% and the slowest increase of the war years, as price and wage controls
held the cost of living nearly flat even as the conflict reached its most
expensive phase. The war itself turned decisively that June, when more than
150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, opening the
long-planned second front against Nazi Germany. Congress used the same
month to plan for the war’s end, passing the GI Bill on June 22 to give
returning veterans money for college or vocational training, low-cost home
and business loans, and unemployment benefits, a package that would reshape
American housing and higher education for a generation. The following
month, delegates from 44 Allied nations gathered at Bretton Woods, New
Hampshire, and agreed to peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar, itself
pegged to gold, creating the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
to manage the new system. Consumer prices stood 77.8% above their
1913 level, a cumulative wartime rise held down by controls
that would start unwinding the following year. First-class postage held at
3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 30 cents an hour.
Every 1944 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 6.45: $1,000 becomes
$6,455, and $10,000 becomes $64,545.
Amount in 1944
Value in 1987
$1.00
$6.45
$5.00
$32.27
$10.00
$64.55
$20.00
$129
$50.00
$323
$100
$645
$500
$3,227
$1,000
$6,455
$5,000
$32,273
$10,000
$64,545
$100,000
$645,455
$1,000,000
$6,454,545
Inflation by spending category, 1944–1987
Between 1944 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 1021.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 271.1%, against 545.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1944
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1944 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.43%
$645
Medical care
5.78%
$1,122
Food
4.53%
$672
Transportation
4.50%
$663
Apparel
3.10%
$371
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1944: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1944 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1944–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1944, at end
1944–1950
5.38%
36.9%
$137
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$168
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$220
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$468
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$645
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1944
$100 from 1944 had already become $184 by
1966, on its way to $645 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 1.2% in 1949, 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 1944 had the buying
power of $645; 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 1944 to 1987: $100 is worth $645 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1944 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1944-to-1987/