$100 in 1965 is worth $361 in 1987,
because prices increased 260.6% over that period, an average of
6.00% a year.
$100 in 1965 has
the same buying power as
$361
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
260.6%
Average inflation rate
6.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$361
Price difference ($100 base)
$261
CPI in 1965
31.5
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1965
1.61%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1965 → 1987
$361
$100 in 1987 → 1965
$27.73
What happened to prices between 1965 and 1987
Between 1965 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 31.5 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 260.6%, which works out to an average of
6.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1965 bought what
$0.28 buys in 1987: the 1965 dollar
lost 72.3% of its purchasing power over
these 22 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.6% in 1965, up from 1964’s 1.3% in a
pickup that economists later mark as the start of the Great
Inflation, a run of accelerating
price increases driven by rising Vietnam War spending layered on top of
new Great Society programs. The war itself escalated on the ground that
March, when about 3,500 Marines came ashore at Da Nang, the first American
combat troops committed to Vietnam; troop levels would climb toward
200,000 by year’s end. Domestic policy expanded just as fast: Medicare and
Medicaid became law that July 30, creating federal health insurance for
older and low-income Americans, and the Voting Rights Act, signed that
August 6, banned literacy tests and other devices used to disenfranchise
Black voters. The civil rights movement’s gains coexisted with urban
unrest that same August, when a highway patrol traffic stop in the Watts
neighborhood of Los Angeles set off six days of rioting that left 34
people dead. Consumer prices finished 1965 218.2% above their
1913 level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the
minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
Every 1965 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 3.61: $1,000 becomes
$3,606, and $10,000 becomes $36,063.
Amount in 1965
Value in 1987
$1.00
$3.61
$5.00
$18.03
$10.00
$36.06
$20.00
$72.13
$50.00
$180
$100
$361
$500
$1,803
$1,000
$3,606
$5,000
$18,032
$10,000
$36,063
$100,000
$360,635
$1,000,000
$3,606,349
Inflation by spending category, 1965–1987
Between 1965 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 416.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 131.4%, against 260.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1965
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1965 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.00%
$361
Medical care
7.75%
$516
Energy
6.34%
$387
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.01%
$361
Food
5.89%
$352
Transportation
5.58%
$330
Apparel
3.89%
$231
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1965: housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1965 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1960s (4.26% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1965–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1965, at end
1965–1970
4.26%
23.2%
$123
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$262
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$361
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1965
$100 from 1965 had already become $181 by
1976, on its way to $361 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 1.9% in 1986.
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1965 had the buying
power of $361; 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 1965 to 1987: $100 is worth $361 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1965 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1965-to-1987/