$100 in 1951 is worth $437 in 1987,
because prices increased 336.9% over that period, an average of
4.18% a year.
$100 in 1951 has
the same buying power as
$437
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
336.9%
Average inflation rate
4.18% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$437
Price difference ($100 base)
$337
CPI in 1951
26
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1951
7.88%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1951 → 1987
$437
$100 in 1987 → 1951
$22.89
What happened to prices between 1951 and 1987
Between 1951 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 26 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 336.9%, which works out to an average of
4.18% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1951 bought what
$0.23 buys in 1987: the 1951 dollar
lost 77.1% of its purchasing power over
these 36 years.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% in 1951, up sharply from 1950’s
1.3% and the fastest increase since 1947, as Korean War buying and a
defense spending surge hit an economy still adjusting to peacetime. Much
of the jump came early in the year, before the government stepped in: the
Office of Price Stabilization imposed a general ceiling on prices January
26, and the Wage Stabilization Board froze wages soon after, the broadest
peacetime controls since the war began that June. The year’s more lasting
change came in monetary policy. On March 4, the Treasury and the Federal
Reserve signed the Accord, ending the Fed’s wartime obligation to hold
down interest rates on government bonds and freeing the central bank to
fight inflation on its own terms for the first time since 1942, a shift
that would shape Fed independence for decades. Congress raised taxes that
October to help pay for the war: the Revenue Act of 1951, signed October
20, lifted individual and corporate income taxes along with a range of
excise taxes, the third increase in taxes since fighting began in Korea.
Consumer prices finished 1951 162.6% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
75 cents an hour.
Every 1951 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 4.37: $1,000 becomes
$4,369, and $10,000 becomes $43,692.
Amount in 1951
Value in 1987
$1.00
$4.37
$5.00
$21.85
$10.00
$43.69
$20.00
$87.38
$50.00
$218
$100
$437
$500
$2,185
$1,000
$4,369
$5,000
$21,846
$10,000
$43,692
$100,000
$436,923
$1,000,000
$4,369,231
Inflation by spending category, 1951–1987
Between 1951 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 718.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 151.9%, against 336.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1951
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1951 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.18%
$437
Medical care
6.01%
$818
Transportation
4.18%
$437
Food
3.94%
$402
Apparel
2.60%
$252
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1951: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1951 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.45% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1951–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1951, at end
1951–1960
1.45%
13.8%
$114
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$149
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$317
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$437
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1951
$100 from 1951 had already become $141 by
1969, on its way to $437 in 1987; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and prices fell 0.4% in 1955, 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 1951 had the buying
power of $437; 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 1951 to 1987: $100 is worth $437 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1951 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1951-to-1987/