$100 in 1972 is worth $272 in 1987,
because prices increased 171.8% over that period, an average of
6.89% a year.
$100 in 1972 has
the same buying power as
$272
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
171.8%
Average inflation rate
6.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$272
Price difference ($100 base)
$172
CPI in 1972
41.8
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1972
3.21%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1972 → 1987
$272
$100 in 1987 → 1972
$36.80
What happened to prices between 1972 and 1987
Between 1972 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 41.8 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 171.8%, which works out to an average of
6.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1972 bought what
$0.37 buys in 1987: the 1972 dollar
lost 63.2% of its purchasing power over
these 15 years.
Consumer prices rose just 3.2% in 1972, the calmest year of the decade and a
sharp break from the previous two years. The relief was largely engineered:
Nixon’s wage and price controls, imposed as a 90-day freeze in August 1971,
had settled into a series of “phases” that capped how much businesses could
raise prices through the election year. Economists would later argue the
controls mostly deferred inflation rather than curing it, storing up pressure
that broke loose once they were lifted. Nixon spent political capital on
foreign policy that year, traveling to Beijing that February in the first
visit by a sitting U.S. president to the People’s Republic of China, a trip
that began normalizing relations Washington had frozen since 1949. Closer to
home, five men were arrested breaking into the Democratic National
Committee’s offices at the Watergate complex that June 17, an event that drew
little attention at the time but would eventually force Nixon from office.
None of it dented his re-election bid: Nixon carried 49 states against
Democrat George McGovern that November, helped by an economy that, on paper,
looked more stable than it had in years. A median household earned $9,697 in
1972, a new home sold for a median $27,600, and gas held near 36 cents a
gallon for a third straight year. Consumer prices stood 322.2% above their
1913 level, a lull that would not survive contact with the
controls’ expiration and the oil shock still to come.
Every 1972 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 2.72: $1,000 becomes
$2,718, and $10,000 becomes $27,177.
Amount in 1972
Value in 1987
$1.00
$2.72
$5.00
$13.59
$10.00
$27.18
$20.00
$54.35
$50.00
$136
$100
$272
$500
$1,359
$1,000
$2,718
$5,000
$13,589
$10,000
$27,177
$100,000
$271,770
$1,000,000
$2,717,703
Inflation by spending category, 1972–1987
Between 1972 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 248.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 77.5%, against 171.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1972
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1972 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.89%
$272
Medical care
8.69%
$349
Energy
8.19%
$326
Housing
7.35%
$290
Food
6.84%
$270
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.81%
$269
Transportation
6.69%
$264
Apparel
3.90%
$178
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1972: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1972 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.85% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1972–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1972, at end
1972–1980
8.85%
97.1%
$197
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$272
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1972
$100 from 1972 had already become $174 by
1979, on its way to $272 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 1972 had the buying
power of $272; 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 1972 to 1987: $100 is worth $272 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1972 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1972-to-1987/