$100 in 1987 is worth $130 in 1994,
because prices increased 30.5% over that period, an average of
3.87% a year.
$100 in 1987 has
the same buying power as
$130
in 1994
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
30.5%
Average inflation rate
3.87% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$130
Price difference ($100 base)
$30.46
CPI in 1987
113.6
CPI in 1994
148.2
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
Inflation in 1994
2.56%
$100 in 1987 → 1994
$130
$100 in 1994 → 1987
$76.65
What happened to prices between 1987 and 1994
Between 1987 and 1994, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 148.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 30.5%, which works out to an average of
3.87% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what
$0.77 buys in 1994: the 1987 dollar
lost 23.3% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 1994 at the same ratio, 1.30: $1,000 becomes
$1,305, and $10,000 becomes $13,046.
Amount in 1987
Value in 1994
$1.00
$1.30
$5.00
$6.52
$10.00
$13.05
$20.00
$26.09
$50.00
$65.23
$100
$130
$500
$652
$1,000
$1,305
$5,000
$6,523
$10,000
$13,046
$100,000
$130,458
$1,000,000
$1,304,577
Inflation by spending category, 1987–1994
Between 1987 and 1994, medical care rose the most, up 62.2%, while energy rose the least, up 18.1%, against 30.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1987
spending costs in 1994, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1987 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.87%
$130
Medical care
7.15%
$162
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.09%
$132
Transportation
3.52%
$127
Food
3.49%
$127
Housing
3.45%
$127
Apparel
2.71%
$121
Energy
2.40%
$118
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1987: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1987 to 1994
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.78% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.19% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1987–1994 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1987, at end
1987–1990
4.78%
15.1%
$115
1990–1994
3.19%
13.4%
$130
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1987
$100 from 1987 had already become $115 by
1990, on its way to $130 in 1994; 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 2.6% in 1994.
In 1994, prices rose 2.6% and $100 from 1987 had the buying
power of $130; the year's average CPI of 148.2 is the level
behind every 1994 figure on this page.
Gas averaged $1.11 a gallon in 1994, a new home cost roughly $130,000, and the median household
earned about $32,300. Inflation ran at 2.6% for the year, the calmest reading since the
mid-1980s, even as the Federal Reserve spent the year raising interest rates precisely to keep
it that way. Chair Alan Greenspan’s Fed lifted the federal funds rate from 3% to 5.5% over six
moves, a preemptive tightening campaign meant to head off inflation before it built rather than
react to it after the fact. The bond market, unprepared for such a rapid climb, sold off
sharply, and the higher rates rippled into places few had expected: Orange County, California,
whose investment pool had bet heavily on rates staying low, filed for bankruptcy in December
after losing an estimated $1.7 billion, the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country’s
history at the time. On the trade front, NAFTA took effect January 1, phasing out tariffs on
thousands of goods moving between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, the start of a schedule that
would eliminate most remaining barriers over the following decade. It was a year that showed
inflation control could have its own costs, paid out in the bond market and, in Orange County’s
case, a bankruptcy court.
MLA: “Inflation from 1987 to 1994: $100 is worth $130 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-1994/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1987 to 1994. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-1994/