$100 in 1955 is worth $424 in 1987,
because prices increased 323.9% over that period, an average of
4.62% a year.
$100 in 1955 has
the same buying power as
$424
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
323.9%
Average inflation rate
4.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$424
Price difference ($100 base)
$324
CPI in 1955
26.8
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1955
-0.37%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1955 → 1987
$424
$100 in 1987 → 1955
$23.59
What happened to prices between 1955 and 1987
Between 1955 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 26.8 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 323.9%, which works out to an average of
4.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1955 bought what
$0.24 buys in 1987: the 1955 dollar
lost 76.4% of its purchasing power over
these 32 years.
Consumer prices fell 0.4% in 1955, the first annual decline since 1949,
as a strong rebound from the 1953-54 recession delivered growth without
much price pressure; automakers and appliance makers competed hard on
price for a booming consumer market. Organized labor consolidated that
December, when the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of
Industrial Organizations merged on the 5th under President George Meany,
uniting roughly 15 million workers in the AFL-CIO after two decades as
rival federations. That same day, a different kind of organizing began in
Montgomery, Alabama: four days after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing
to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, the city’s Black community
began a boycott of its buses that would last more than a year and help
launch the civil rights movement’s mass phase. Markets got a scare that
September: news of Eisenhower’s heart attack on the 24th sent the Dow
Jones Industrial Average to its steepest one-day drop since the 1929
crash when trading resumed that Monday, before stocks recovered as the
president’s health improved. Consumer prices finished 1955 170.7% above
their 1913 level, essentially unchanged from where they
stood a year earlier. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
Every 1955 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 4.24: $1,000 becomes
$4,239, and $10,000 becomes $42,388.
Amount in 1955
Value in 1987
$1.00
$4.24
$5.00
$21.19
$10.00
$42.39
$20.00
$84.78
$50.00
$212
$100
$424
$500
$2,119
$1,000
$4,239
$5,000
$21,194
$10,000
$42,388
$100,000
$423,881
$1,000,000
$4,238,806
Inflation by spending category, 1955–1987
Between 1955 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 614.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 157.8%, against 323.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1955
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1955 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.62%
$424
Medical care
6.34%
$715
Transportation
4.50%
$409
Food
4.49%
$408
Apparel
3.00%
$258
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1955: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1955 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.01% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1955–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1955, at end
1955–1960
2.01%
10.4%
$110
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$145
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$307
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$424
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1955
$100 from 1955 had already become $151 by
1971, on its way to $424 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 the smallest rise was 0.7% in 1959.
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 1955 had the buying
power of $424; 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 1955 to 1987: $100 is worth $424 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1955-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1955 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1955-to-1987/