$100 in 1987 is worth $172 in 2005,
because prices increased 71.9% over that period, an average of
3.06% a year.
$100 in 1987 has
the same buying power as
$172
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
71.9%
Average inflation rate
3.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$172
Price difference ($100 base)
$71.92
CPI in 1987
113.6
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1987 → 2005
$172
$100 in 2005 → 1987
$58.17
What happened to prices between 1987 and 2005
Between 1987 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 71.9%, which works out to an average of
3.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what
$0.58 buys in 2005: the 1987 dollar
lost 41.8% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 2005 at the same ratio, 1.72: $1,000 becomes
$1,719, and $10,000 becomes $17,192.
Amount in 1987
Value in 2005
$1.00
$1.72
$5.00
$8.60
$10.00
$17.19
$20.00
$34.38
$50.00
$85.96
$100
$172
$500
$860
$1,000
$1,719
$5,000
$8,596
$10,000
$17,192
$100,000
$171,919
$1,000,000
$1,719,190
Inflation by spending category, 1987–2005
Between 1987 and 2005, medical care rose the most, up 148.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 8.0%, against 71.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1987
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1987 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.06%
$172
Medical care
5.19%
$248
Energy
3.92%
$200
Housing
3.04%
$171
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.99%
$170
Food
2.92%
$168
Transportation
2.82%
$165
Apparel
0.43%
$108
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1987: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1987 to 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.78% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.55% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1987–2005 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
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$172
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1987
$100 from 1987 had already become $138 by
1996, on its way to $172 in 2005; 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 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1987 had the buying
power of $172; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1987 to 2005: $100 is worth $172 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1987 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2005/