$100 in 1971 is worth $280 in 1987,
because prices increased 180.5% over that period, an average of
6.66% a year.
$100 in 1971 has
the same buying power as
$280
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
180.5%
Average inflation rate
6.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$280
Price difference ($100 base)
$180
CPI in 1971
40.5
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1971
4.38%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1971 → 1987
$280
$100 in 1987 → 1971
$35.65
What happened to prices between 1971 and 1987
Between 1971 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 40.5 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 180.5%, which works out to an average of
6.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1971 bought what
$0.36 buys in 1987: the 1971 dollar
lost 64.3% of its purchasing power over
these 16 years.
Consumer prices rose 4.4% in 1971, down from 1970’s 5.7% as
the recession that started in December 1969 finally cooled demand. The bigger
economic story came that August 15, when President Nixon closed the “gold
window” that let foreign governments exchange dollars for gold, ending the
Bretton Woods system that had anchored the dollar since World War II. The
same address announced a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, the first
peacetime controls the country had seen, an attempt to break inflationary
expectations without the slower grind of tighter money. The “Nixon Shock,” as
it came to be known, let the dollar float against other currencies for the
first time and set the stage for a wage-and-price-control regime that would
run in various forms into 1973. Politically, the country lowered its voting
age that year: the 26th Amendment, ratified July 1, extended the vote to
18-year-olds, capping a campaign built on the argument that men old enough to
be drafted to Vietnam were old enough to vote for the people who sent them.
The Postal Service, independent since 1970’s reorganization, raised
first-class postage from 6 to 8 cents that May. A median household earned
$9,028 in 1971, up from $8,734 the year before, while gas held near 36 cents
a gallon and a new home sold for a median $25,200. Consumer prices stood
309.1% above their 1913 level by year’s end, still years away
from the double-digit inflation the controls were meant to prevent.
Every 1971 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 2.80: $1,000 becomes
$2,805, and $10,000 becomes $28,049.
Amount in 1971
Value in 1987
$1.00
$2.80
$5.00
$14.02
$10.00
$28.05
$20.00
$56.10
$50.00
$140
$100
$280
$500
$1,402
$1,000
$2,805
$5,000
$14,025
$10,000
$28,049
$100,000
$280,494
$1,000,000
$2,804,938
Inflation by spending category, 1971–1987
Between 1971 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 260.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 81.0%, against 180.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1971
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1971 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.66%
$280
Medical care
8.34%
$360
Energy
7.84%
$334
Housing
7.12%
$301
Food
6.67%
$281
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.57%
$277
Transportation
6.33%
$267
Apparel
3.78%
$181
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1971: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1971 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.21% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1971–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1971, at end
1971–1980
8.21%
103.5%
$203
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$280
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1971
$100 from 1971 had already become $179 by
1979, on its way to $280 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 1971 had the buying
power of $280; 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 1971 to 1987: $100 is worth $280 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1971 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1971-to-1987/