$100 in 1975 is worth $211 in 1987,
because prices increased 111.2% over that period, an average of
6.43% a year.
$100 in 1975 has
the same buying power as
$211
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
111.2%
Average inflation rate
6.43% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$211
Price difference ($100 base)
$111
CPI in 1975
53.8
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1975
9.13%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1975 → 1987
$211
$100 in 1987 → 1975
$47.36
What happened to prices between 1975 and 1987
Between 1975 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 53.8 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 111.2%, which works out to an average of
6.43% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1975 bought what
$0.47 buys in 1987: the 1975 dollar
lost 52.6% of its purchasing power over
these 12 years.
Consumer prices rose 9.1% in 1975, easing slightly from 1974’s
11.0% but still running far above anything the country had experienced before
the decade began. The recession that started in November 1973, the deepest
since the Great Depression, bottomed out that March, yet unemployment kept
climbing through the year and touched 9%, a combination of high inflation and
high joblessness that had no precedent in the postwar data. Vietnam ended
that April 30, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and the last
Americans were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof. Fiscal
strain hit closer to home too: New York City, facing bankruptcy after years
of borrowing to paper over budget gaps, asked Washington for help that
October. President Ford’s initial refusal produced the Daily News headline
“Ford to City: Drop Dead,” though he ultimately signed a federal loan package
that December. Amid the gloom, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft
that April in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sell a version of the BASIC
programming language for the Altair 8800, one of the first personal
computers sold to hobbyists. A median household earned $11,800 in 1975, a new
home sold for a median $39,300, and first-class postage held at 10 cents,
unchanged since 1974’s increase. Consumer prices stood 443.4%
above their 1913 level, with the decade barely past its
midpoint.
Every 1975 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 2.11: $1,000 becomes
$2,112, and $10,000 becomes $21,115.
Amount in 1975
Value in 1987
$1.00
$2.11
$5.00
$10.56
$10.00
$21.12
$20.00
$42.23
$50.00
$106
$100
$211
$500
$1,056
$1,000
$2,112
$5,000
$10,558
$10,000
$21,115
$100,000
$211,152
$1,000,000
$2,111,524
Inflation by spending category, 1975–1987
Between 1975 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 173.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 52.6%, against 111.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1975
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1975 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.43%
$211
Medical care
8.76%
$274
Housing
7.00%
$225
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.76%
$219
Energy
6.40%
$210
Transportation
6.39%
$210
Food
5.49%
$190
Apparel
3.58%
$153
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1975: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1975 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 8.90% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1975–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1975, at end
1975–1980
8.90%
53.2%
$153
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$211
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1975
$100 from 1975 had already become $169 by
1981, on its way to $211 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 1975 had the buying
power of $211; 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 1975 to 1987: $100 is worth $211 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1975 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1975-to-1987/