$100 in 1953 is worth $425 in 1987,
because prices increased 325.5% over that period, an average of
4.35% a year.
$100 in 1953 has
the same buying power as
$425
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
325.5%
Average inflation rate
4.35% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$425
Price difference ($100 base)
$325
CPI in 1953
26.7
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1953
0.75%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1953 → 1987
$425
$100 in 1987 → 1953
$23.50
What happened to prices between 1953 and 1987
Between 1953 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.7 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 325.5%, which works out to an average of
4.35% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1953 bought what
$0.24 buys in 1987: the 1953 dollar
lost 76.5% of its purchasing power over
these 34 years.
Consumer prices rose 0.8% in 1953, down from 1952’s 1.9% as
fighting in Korea wound toward a truce and three years of wartime buying
pressure finally eased. The year’s biggest shock came from Moscow: Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin died March 5 after nearly three decades in power, the
first change of Soviet leadership since the 1920s, opening a period of
uncertainty over how his successors would deal with the West. Washington
used the calmer backdrop to unwind its own wartime machinery. Authority
for the price and wage controls imposed in 1951 lapsed that spring, as the
Eisenhower administration, which favored free markets over controls, wound
down the Office of Price Stabilization. The war itself ended, on paper,
that July: negotiators signed an armistice July 27 at Panmunjom, halting
the fighting roughly along the original border near the 38th parallel. No
formal peace treaty ever followed, and North and South Korea remain
technically at war. Consumer prices finished 1953 169.7% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Every 1953 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 4.25: $1,000 becomes
$4,255, and $10,000 becomes $42,547.
Amount in 1953
Value in 1987
$1.00
$4.25
$5.00
$21.27
$10.00
$42.55
$20.00
$85.09
$50.00
$213
$100
$425
$500
$2,127
$1,000
$4,255
$5,000
$21,273
$10,000
$42,547
$100,000
$425,468
$1,000,000
$4,254,682
Inflation by spending category, 1953–1987
Between 1953 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 652.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 156.6%, against 325.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1953
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1953 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.35%
$425
Medical care
6.11%
$752
Food
4.17%
$401
Transportation
4.14%
$398
Apparel
2.81%
$257
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1953: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1953 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.48% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1953–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1953, at end
1953–1960
1.48%
10.9%
$111
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$145
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$309
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$425
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1953
$100 from 1953 had already become $137 by
1969, on its way to $425 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 1953 had the buying
power of $425; 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 1953 to 1987: $100 is worth $425 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1953 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1953-to-1987/