$100 in 1963 is worth $371 in 1987,
because prices increased 271.2% over that period, an average of
5.62% a year.
$100 in 1963 has
the same buying power as
$371
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
271.2%
Average inflation rate
5.62% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$371
Price difference ($100 base)
$271
CPI in 1963
30.6
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1963
1.32%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1963 → 1987
$371
$100 in 1987 → 1963
$26.94
What happened to prices between 1963 and 1987
Between 1963 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 30.6 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 271.2%, which works out to an average of
5.62% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1963 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1987: the 1963 dollar
lost 73.1% of its purchasing power over
these 24 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1963, up slightly from 1962’s
1.0% as the expansion entered its third year with inflation still low,
conditions that gave Kennedy room to push the large tax cut he had
proposed to Congress. The cost of a first-class stamp rose that January
7, to 5 cents from 4 cents, the first postal rate change since 1958. That
August 28, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech
from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a quarter million people
gathered for the March on Washington, building pressure on Congress to
pass the civil rights bill Kennedy had proposed that June. The year ended
in tragedy: Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through
Dallas on November 22, and Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force
One that same afternoon. Johnson would spend the following year pushing
Kennedy’s stalled tax and civil rights agenda through Congress. The
minimum wage rose again that September, to $1.25 an hour, the second step
of the phased increase set two years earlier. Consumer prices finished
1963 209.1% above their 1913 level.
Every 1963 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 3.71: $1,000 becomes
$3,712, and $10,000 becomes $37,124.
Amount in 1963
Value in 1987
$1.00
$3.71
$5.00
$18.56
$10.00
$37.12
$20.00
$74.25
$50.00
$186
$100
$371
$500
$1,856
$1,000
$3,712
$5,000
$18,562
$10,000
$37,124
$100,000
$371,242
$1,000,000
$3,712,418
Inflation by spending category, 1963–1987
Between 1963 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 439.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 135.8%, against 271.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1963
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1963 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.62%
$371
Medical care
7.28%
$540
Energy
5.86%
$392
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.62%
$372
Food
5.54%
$365
Transportation
5.25%
$341
Apparel
3.64%
$236
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1963: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1963 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.45% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1963–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1963, at end
1963–1970
3.45%
26.8%
$127
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$269
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$371
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1963
$100 from 1963 had already become $176 by
1975, on its way to $371 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 1.3% in 1964.
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1963 had the buying
power of $371; 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 1963 to 1987: $100 is worth $371 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1963 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1963-to-1987/