$100 in 1964 is worth $366 in 1987,
because prices increased 266.5% over that period, an average of
5.81% a year.
$100 in 1964 has
the same buying power as
$366
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
266.5%
Average inflation rate
5.81% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$366
Price difference ($100 base)
$266
CPI in 1964
31
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1964 → 1987
$366
$100 in 1987 → 1964
$27.29
What happened to prices between 1964 and 1987
Between 1964 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 31 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 266.5%, which works out to an average of
5.81% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1964 bought what
$0.27 buys in 1987: the 1964 dollar
lost 72.7% of its purchasing power over
these 23 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
Every 1964 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 3.66: $1,000 becomes
$3,665, and $10,000 becomes $36,645.
Amount in 1964
Value in 1987
$1.00
$3.66
$5.00
$18.32
$10.00
$36.65
$20.00
$73.29
$50.00
$183
$100
$366
$500
$1,832
$1,000
$3,665
$5,000
$18,323
$10,000
$36,645
$100,000
$366,452
$1,000,000
$3,664,516
Inflation by spending category, 1964–1987
Between 1964 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 428.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 133.8%, against 266.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1964
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1964 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.81%
$366
Medical care
7.51%
$529
Energy
6.14%
$394
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.80%
$366
Food
5.73%
$360
Transportation
5.41%
$336
Apparel
3.76%
$234
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1964: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1964 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (3.81% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1964–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1964, at end
1964–1970
3.81%
25.2%
$125
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$266
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$366
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1964
$100 from 1964 had already become $174 by
1975, on its way to $366 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 1.6% in 1965.
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1964 had the buying
power of $366; 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 1964 to 1987: $100 is worth $366 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1964 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1964-to-1987/