$100 in 1987 is worth $127 in 1993,
because prices increased 27.2% over that period, an average of
4.09% a year.
$100 in 1987 has
the same buying power as
$127
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
27.2%
Average inflation rate
4.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$127
Price difference ($100 base)
$27.20
CPI in 1987
113.6
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1987 → 1993
$127
$100 in 1993 → 1987
$78.62
What happened to prices between 1987 and 1993
Between 1987 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 27.2%, which works out to an average of
4.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what
$0.79 buys in 1993: the 1987 dollar
lost 21.4% of its purchasing power over
these 6 years.
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.
Every 1987 amount converts to 1993 at the same ratio, 1.27: $1,000 becomes
$1,272, and $10,000 becomes $12,720.
Amount in 1987
Value in 1993
$1.00
$1.27
$5.00
$6.36
$10.00
$12.72
$20.00
$25.44
$50.00
$63.60
$100
$127
$500
$636
$1,000
$1,272
$5,000
$6,360
$10,000
$12,720
$100,000
$127,201
$1,000,000
$1,272,007
Inflation by spending category, 1987–1993
Between 1987 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 54.8%, while energy rose the least, up 17.6%, against 27.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1987
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1987 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.09%
$127
Medical care
7.55%
$155
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.30%
$129
Food
3.67%
$124
Transportation
3.61%
$124
Housing
3.60%
$124
Apparel
3.21%
$121
Energy
2.74%
$118
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1987: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1987 to 1993
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.78% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.40% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1987–1993 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1987, at end
1987–1990
4.78%
15.1%
$115
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$127
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1987
$100 from 1987 had already become $115 by
1990, on its way to $127 in 1993; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 5.4% in 1990, and the smallest rise was 3.0% in 1993.
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1987 had the buying
power of $127; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1987 to 1993: $100 is worth $127 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1987 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-1993/