$100 in 1976 is worth $200 in 1987,
because prices increased 99.6% over that period, an average of
6.49% a year.
$100 in 1976 has
the same buying power as
$200
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
99.6%
Average inflation rate
6.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$200
Price difference ($100 base)
$99.65
CPI in 1976
56.9
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1976 → 1987
$200
$100 in 1987 → 1976
$50.09
What happened to prices between 1976 and 1987
Between 1976 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 56.9 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 99.6%, which works out to an average of
6.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1976 bought what
$0.50 buys in 1987: the 1976 dollar
lost 49.9% of its purchasing power over
these 11 years.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
Every 1976 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 2.00: $1,000 becomes
$1,996, and $10,000 becomes $19,965.
Amount in 1976
Value in 1987
$1.00
$2.00
$5.00
$9.98
$10.00
$19.96
$20.00
$39.93
$50.00
$99.82
$100
$200
$500
$998
$1,000
$1,996
$5,000
$9,982
$10,000
$19,965
$100,000
$199,649
$1,000,000
$1,996,485
Inflation by spending category, 1976–1987
Between 1976 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 150.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 47.1%, against 99.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1976
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1976 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.49%
$200
Medical care
8.69%
$250
Housing
7.08%
$212
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.79%
$206
Energy
6.33%
$196
Transportation
6.07%
$191
Food
5.71%
$184
Apparel
3.57%
$147
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1976: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1976 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 9.70% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1976–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1976, at end
1976–1980
9.70%
44.8%
$145
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$200
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1976
$100 from 1976 had already become $160 by
1981, on its way to $200 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 1976 had the buying
power of $200; 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 1976 to 1987: $100 is worth $200 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1976 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1976-to-1987/