$100 in 1987 is worth $166 in 2004,
because prices increased 66.3% over that period, an average of
3.04% a year.
$100 in 1987 has
the same buying power as
$166
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
66.3%
Average inflation rate
3.04% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$166
Price difference ($100 base)
$66.29
CPI in 1987
113.6
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1987 → 2004
$166
$100 in 2004 → 1987
$60.14
What happened to prices between 1987 and 2004
Between 1987 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 66.3%, which works out to an average of
3.04% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what
$0.60 buys in 2004: the 1987 dollar
lost 39.9% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2004 at the same ratio, 1.66: $1,000 becomes
$1,663, and $10,000 becomes $16,629.
Amount in 1987
Value in 2004
$1.00
$1.66
$5.00
$8.31
$10.00
$16.63
$20.00
$33.26
$50.00
$83.14
$100
$166
$500
$831
$1,000
$1,663
$5,000
$8,314
$10,000
$16,629
$100,000
$166,285
$1,000,000
$1,662,852
Inflation by spending category, 1987–2004
Between 1987 and 2004, medical care rose the most, up 138.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 8.9%, against 66.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1987
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1987 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.04%
$166
Medical care
5.24%
$238
Energy
3.20%
$171
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.04%
$166
Housing
3.02%
$166
Food
2.95%
$164
Transportation
2.60%
$155
Apparel
0.50%
$109
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1987: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1987 to 2004
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.78% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.34% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1987–2004 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
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$166
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1987
$100 from 1987 had already become $134 by
1995, on its way to $166 in 2004; 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 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1987 had the buying
power of $166; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1987 to 2004: $100 is worth $166 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1987 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2004/