$100 in 1957 is worth $404 in 1987,
because prices increased 304.3% over that period, an average of
4.77% a year.
$100 in 1957 has
the same buying power as
$404
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
304.3%
Average inflation rate
4.77% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$404
Price difference ($100 base)
$304
CPI in 1957
28.1
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1957
3.31%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1957 → 1987
$404
$100 in 1987 → 1957
$24.74
What happened to prices between 1957 and 1987
Between 1957 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 28.1 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 304.3%, which works out to an average of
4.77% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1957 bought what
$0.25 buys in 1987: the 1957 dollar
lost 75.3% of its purchasing power over
these 30 years.
Consumer prices rose 3.3% in 1957, up from 1956’s 1.5% and
the sharpest increase since the Korean War price surge of 1951. The jump
fed a growing debate among economists over “cost-push” inflation, prices
climbing from rising wages and material costs rather than excess demand,
a debate that would recur for the next quarter century. The Federal
Reserve tightened policy to fight it, and by August the tighter money
combined with falling business investment to tip the economy into a
recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating. The Cold War took a technological turn that October, when the
Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, on the
4th, stunning the American public and setting off both the Space Race and
a surge in federal science and defense spending the following year. Civil
rights reached a crisis that September in Little Rock, Arkansas: after
Governor Orval Faubus used the National Guard to block nine Black
students from Central High School, Eisenhower federalized the Guard and
sent the 101st Airborne Division to enforce the Supreme Court’s
desegregation order. Consumer prices finished 1957 183.8% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at $1.00 an hour.
Every 1957 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 4.04: $1,000 becomes
$4,043, and $10,000 becomes $40,427.
Amount in 1957
Value in 1987
$1.00
$4.04
$5.00
$20.21
$10.00
$40.43
$20.00
$80.85
$50.00
$202
$100
$404
$500
$2,021
$1,000
$4,043
$5,000
$20,214
$10,000
$40,427
$100,000
$404,270
$1,000,000
$4,042,705
Inflation by spending category, 1957–1987
Between 1957 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 560.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 148.5%, against 304.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1957
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1957 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.77%
$404
Medical care
6.49%
$660
Energy
4.83%
$412
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.81%
$409
Food
4.67%
$393
Transportation
4.56%
$381
Apparel
3.08%
$249
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1957: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1957 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.75% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1957–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1957, at end
1957–1960
1.75%
5.3%
$105
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$138
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$293
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$404
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1957
$100 from 1957 had already become $149 by
1972, on its way to $404 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.
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1957 had the buying
power of $404; 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 1957 to 1987: $100 is worth $404 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1957 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1957-to-1987/