$100 in 1977 is worth $187 in 1987,
because prices increased 87.5% over that period, an average of
6.49% a year.
$100 in 1977 has
the same buying power as
$187
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
87.5%
Average inflation rate
6.49% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$187
Price difference ($100 base)
$87.46
CPI in 1977
60.6
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1977 → 1987
$187
$100 in 1987 → 1977
$53.35
What happened to prices between 1977 and 1987
Between 1977 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 60.6 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 87.5%, which works out to an average of
6.49% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1977 bought what
$0.53 buys in 1987: the 1977 dollar
lost 46.7% of its purchasing power over
these 10 years.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
Every 1977 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 1.87: $1,000 becomes
$1,875, and $10,000 becomes $18,746.
Amount in 1977
Value in 1987
$1.00
$1.87
$5.00
$9.37
$10.00
$18.75
$20.00
$37.49
$50.00
$93.73
$100
$187
$500
$937
$1,000
$1,875
$5,000
$9,373
$10,000
$18,746
$100,000
$187,459
$1,000,000
$1,874,587
Inflation by spending category, 1977–1987
Between 1977 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 128.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 40.7%, against 87.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1977
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1977 →
All items (CPI-U)
6.49%
$187
Medical care
8.60%
$228
Housing
7.12%
$199
Core (all items less food & energy)
6.84%
$194
Energy
6.02%
$179
Transportation
5.97%
$179
Food
5.65%
$173
Apparel
3.47%
$141
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1977: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1977 to 1987
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 10.79% a year, and slowest in the 1980s (4.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1977–1987 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1977, at end
1977–1980
10.79%
36.0%
$136
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$187
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1977
$100 from 1977 had already become $159 by
1982, on its way to $187 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 1977 had the buying
power of $187; 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 1977 to 1987: $100 is worth $187 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1977 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1977-to-1987/