$100 in 1987 is worth $162 in 2003,
because prices increased 62.0% over that period, an average of
3.06% a year.
$100 in 1987 has
the same buying power as
$162
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
62.0%
Average inflation rate
3.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$162
Price difference ($100 base)
$61.97
CPI in 1987
113.6
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1987 → 2003
$162
$100 in 2003 → 1987
$61.74
What happened to prices between 1987 and 2003
Between 1987 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 62.0%, which works out to an average of
3.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what
$0.62 buys in 2003: the 1987 dollar
lost 38.3% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 2003 at the same ratio, 1.62: $1,000 becomes
$1,620, and $10,000 becomes $16,197.
Amount in 1987
Value in 2003
$1.00
$1.62
$5.00
$8.10
$10.00
$16.20
$20.00
$32.39
$50.00
$80.99
$100
$162
$500
$810
$1,000
$1,620
$5,000
$8,099
$10,000
$16,197
$100,000
$161,972
$1,000,000
$1,619,718
Inflation by spending category, 1987–2003
Between 1987 and 2003, medical care rose the most, up 128.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 9.3%, against 62.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1987
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1987 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.06%
$162
Medical care
5.30%
$228
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.12%
$163
Housing
3.05%
$162
Food
2.92%
$159
Energy
2.74%
$154
Transportation
2.55%
$150
Apparel
0.56%
$109
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1987: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1987 to 2003
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.78% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1987–2003 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1987, at end
1987–1990
4.78%
15.1%
$115
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$152
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$162
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1987
$100 from 1987 had already become $134 by
1995, on its way to $162 in 2003; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1987 had the buying
power of $162; the year's average CPI of 184 is the level
behind every 2003 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.3% in 2003, up from 1.6% in 2002, as gasoline climbed from $1.36 to $1.59 a
gallon around the March invasion of Iraq. Even so, the Federal Reserve spent the year worried
about prices being too low: on June 25 it cut its policy rate to 1.0%, the lowest since 1958,
and said the risk of deflation, though small, deserved a response. The median household earned
about $43,300 and a new home cost roughly $195,000. Congress passed a second round of tax cuts
in May, and the economy grew faster in the second half of the year than at any point since
1999. Hiring lagged the recovery, and unemployment peaked at 6.3% in June. A first-class stamp
stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1987 to 2003: $100 is worth $162 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1987 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2003/