$100 in 1959 is worth $390 in 1987,
because prices increased 290.4% over that period, an average of
4.98% a year.
$100 in 1959 has
the same buying power as
$390
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
290.4%
Average inflation rate
4.98% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$390
Price difference ($100 base)
$290
CPI in 1959
29.1
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1959
0.69%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1959 → 1987
$390
$100 in 1987 → 1959
$25.62
What happened to prices between 1959 and 1987
Between 1959 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.1 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 290.4%, which works out to an average of
4.98% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1959 bought what
$0.26 buys in 1987: the 1959 dollar
lost 74.4% of its purchasing power over
these 28 years.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1959, down sharply from 1958’s
2.8% as the economy recovered briskly from the year before’s recession,
with output and employment both rebounding through the year. The map of
the country changed that year for the first time since 1912: Alaska
joined the union January 3, and Hawaii followed August 21, completing the
50-state United States. Ninety miles from Florida, Cuba changed hands
that January, when Fidel Castro’s guerrilla forces overthrew President
Fulgencio Batista, who fled the country on the 1st; Castro entered Havana
on the 8th, beginning a Communist government that would define Cold War
tensions in the hemisphere for decades. Labor and management fought their
longest battle of the postwar era that summer: the United Steelworkers
walked out July 15 in a dispute over work rules, the longest strike in the
industry’s history, before a federal court granted the Eisenhower
administration a Taft-Hartley back-to-work order that November. Consumer
prices finished the decade 193.9% above their 1913 level,
up 20.7% from where they stood in 1950. First-class
postage held at 4 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.00 an hour.
Every 1959 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 3.90: $1,000 becomes
$3,904, and $10,000 becomes $39,038.
Amount in 1959
Value in 1987
$1.00
$3.90
$5.00
$19.52
$10.00
$39.04
$20.00
$78.08
$50.00
$195
$100
$390
$500
$1,952
$1,000
$3,904
$5,000
$19,519
$10,000
$39,038
$100,000
$390,378
$1,000,000
$3,903,780
Inflation by spending category, 1959–1987
Between 1959 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 505.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 145.8%, against 290.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1959
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1959 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.98%
$390
Medical care
6.64%
$605
Energy
5.12%
$405
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.99%
$391
Food
4.90%
$382
Transportation
4.61%
$354
Apparel
3.26%
$246
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1959: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1959 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (1.72% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1959–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1959, at end
1959–1960
1.72%
1.7%
$102
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$133
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$283
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$390
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1959
$100 from 1959 had already become $153 by
1973, on its way to $390 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 1.0% in 1962.
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1959 had the buying
power of $390; 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 1959 to 1987: $100 is worth $390 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1959 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1959-to-1987/