$100 in 1980 is worth $138 in 1987,
because prices increased 37.9% over that period, an average of
4.69% a year.
$100 in 1980 has
the same buying power as
$138
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
37.9%
Average inflation rate
4.69% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$138
Price difference ($100 base)
$37.86
CPI in 1980
82.4
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1980 → 1987
$138
$100 in 1987 → 1980
$72.54
What happened to prices between 1980 and 1987
Between 1980 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 82.4 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 37.9%, which works out to an average of
4.69% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1980 bought what
$0.73 buys in 1987: the 1980 dollar
lost 27.5% of its purchasing power over
these 7 years.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
Every 1980 amount converts to 1987 at the same ratio, 1.38: $1,000 becomes
$1,379, and $10,000 becomes $13,786.
Amount in 1980
Value in 1987
$1.00
$1.38
$5.00
$6.89
$10.00
$13.79
$20.00
$27.57
$50.00
$68.93
$100
$138
$500
$689
$1,000
$1,379
$5,000
$6,893
$10,000
$13,786
$100,000
$137,864
$1,000,000
$1,378,641
Inflation by spending category, 1980–1987
Between 1980 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 73.7%, while energy rose the least, up 3.0%, against 37.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1980
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1980 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.69%
$138
Medical care
8.21%
$174
Core (all items less food & energy)
5.58%
$146
Housing
5.01%
$141
Food
3.91%
$131
Transportation
3.45%
$127
Apparel
2.84%
$122
Energy
0.43%
$103
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1980: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1980
$100 from 1980 had already become $121 by
1983, on its way to $138 in 1987; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 10.3% in 1981, and the smallest rise was 1.9% in 1986.
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1980 had the buying
power of $138; 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 1980 to 1987: $100 is worth $138 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1980 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1980-to-1987/