$100 in 1987 is worth $198 in 2011,
because prices increased 98.0% over that period, an average of
2.89% a year.
$100 in 1987 has
the same buying power as
$198
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
98.0%
Average inflation rate
2.89% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$198
Price difference ($100 base)
$98.01
CPI in 1987
113.6
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1987 → 2011
$198
$100 in 2011 → 1987
$50.50
What happened to prices between 1987 and 2011
Between 1987 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 98.0%, which works out to an average of
2.89% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what
$0.51 buys in 2011: the 1987 dollar
lost 49.5% of its purchasing power over
these 24 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 2011 at the same ratio, 1.98: $1,000 becomes
$1,980, and $10,000 becomes $19,801.
Amount in 1987
Value in 2011
$1.00
$1.98
$5.00
$9.90
$10.00
$19.80
$20.00
$39.60
$50.00
$99.00
$100
$198
$500
$990
$1,000
$1,980
$5,000
$9,900
$10,000
$19,801
$100,000
$198,010
$1,000,000
$1,980,097
Inflation by spending category, 1987–2011
Between 1987 and 2011, medical care rose the most, up 207.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 10.4%, against 98.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1987
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1987 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.89%
$198
Medical care
4.79%
$308
Energy
4.31%
$275
Transportation
2.96%
$201
Food
2.95%
$201
Housing
2.75%
$192
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.72%
$190
Apparel
0.41%
$110
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1987: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1987 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.78% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1987–2011 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$192
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$198
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1987
$100 from 1987 had already become $147 by
1999, on its way to $198 in 2011; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1987 had the buying
power of $198; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1987 to 2011: $100 is worth $198 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1987 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2011/