$100 in 1987 is worth $177 in 2006,
because prices increased 77.5% over that period, an average of
3.06% a year.
$100 in 1987 has
the same buying power as
$177
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
77.5%
Average inflation rate
3.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$177
Price difference ($100 base)
$77.46
CPI in 1987
113.6
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1987 → 2006
$177
$100 in 2006 → 1987
$56.35
What happened to prices between 1987 and 2006
Between 1987 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 77.5%, which works out to an average of
3.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what
$0.56 buys in 2006: the 1987 dollar
lost 43.7% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 2006 at the same ratio, 1.77: $1,000 becomes
$1,775, and $10,000 becomes $17,746.
Amount in 1987
Value in 2006
$1.00
$1.77
$5.00
$8.87
$10.00
$17.75
$20.00
$35.49
$50.00
$88.73
$100
$177
$500
$887
$1,000
$1,775
$5,000
$8,873
$10,000
$17,746
$100,000
$177,465
$1,000,000
$1,774,648
Inflation by spending category, 1987–2006
Between 1987 and 2006, medical care rose the most, up 158.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 8.0%, against 77.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1987
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1987 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.06%
$177
Medical care
5.12%
$258
Energy
4.29%
$222
Housing
3.08%
$178
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.96%
$174
Food
2.89%
$172
Transportation
2.88%
$172
Apparel
0.41%
$108
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1987: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1987 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.78% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.66% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1987–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$177
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1987
$100 from 1987 had already become $138 by
1996, on its way to $177 in 2006; 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 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1987 had the buying
power of $177; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1987 to 2006: $100 is worth $177 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1987 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2006/