$100 in 1960 is worth $384 in 1987,
because prices increased 283.8% over that period, an average of
5.11% a year.
$100 in 1960 has
the same buying power as
$384
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
283.8%
Average inflation rate
5.11% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$384
Price difference ($100 base)
$284
CPI in 1960
29.6
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1960
1.72%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1960 → 1987
$384
$100 in 1987 → 1960
$26.06
What happened to prices between 1960 and 1987
Between 1960 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 29.6 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 283.8%, which works out to an average of
5.11% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1960 bought what
$0.26 buys in 1987: the 1960 dollar
lost 73.9% of its purchasing power over
these 27 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.7% in 1960, up from 1959’s 0.7% even
as the economy slipped into recession that April, a downturn that would
prove the shortest since World War II. The year’s defining political
moment came that November, when John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Richard
Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history,
decided by roughly two-tenths of a percentage point in the popular vote.
Television played a new role in the race: the first-ever televised
presidential debate that September, watched by an estimated 70 million
people, was widely seen as favoring the telegenic Kennedy. Civil rights
protest took a new form that February, when four Black freshmen at North
Carolina A&T State University sat down at a whites-only Woolworth’s lunch
counter in Greensboro and refused to leave; the sit-in tactic spread to
dozens of Southern cities within weeks. Cold War tensions flared that May,
when a Soviet missile downed an American U-2 spy plane deep inside Soviet
airspace. The pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was captured alive, embarrassing
the Eisenhower administration and collapsing a Paris summit called to ease
relations with Moscow. Consumer prices finished 1960 199.0% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 4 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.00 an hour.
Every 1960 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 3.84: $1,000 becomes
$3,838, and $10,000 becomes $38,378.
Amount in 1960
Value in 1987
$1.00
$3.84
$5.00
$19.19
$10.00
$38.38
$20.00
$76.76
$50.00
$192
$100
$384
$500
$1,919
$1,000
$3,838
$5,000
$19,189
$10,000
$38,378
$100,000
$383,784
$1,000,000
$3,837,838
Inflation by spending category, 1960–1987
Between 1960 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 483.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 142.0%, against 283.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1960
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1960 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.11%
$384
Medical care
6.75%
$583
Energy
5.22%
$396
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.13%
$386
Food
5.05%
$378
Transportation
4.79%
$354
Apparel
3.33%
$242
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1960: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1960 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (2.74% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1960–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1960, at end
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$131
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$278
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$384
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1960
$100 from 1960 had already become $150 by
1973, on its way to $384 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 1960 had the buying
power of $384; 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 1960 to 1987: $100 is worth $384 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1960-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1960 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1960-to-1987/