$100 in 1987 is worth $228 in 2020,
because prices increased 127.8% over that period, an average of
2.53% a year.
$100 in 1987 has
the same buying power as
$228
in 2020
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
127.8%
Average inflation rate
2.53% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$228
Price difference ($100 base)
$128
CPI in 1987
113.6
CPI in 2020
258.811
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
Inflation in 2020
1.23%
$100 in 1987 → 2020
$228
$100 in 2020 → 1987
$43.89
What happened to prices between 1987 and 2020
Between 1987 and 2020, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 258.811.
Cumulatively, prices increased 127.8%, which works out to an average of
2.53% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what
$0.44 buys in 2020: the 1987 dollar
lost 56.1% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 2020 at the same ratio, 2.28: $1,000 becomes
$2,278, and $10,000 becomes $22,783.
Amount in 1987
Value in 2020
$1.00
$2.28
$5.00
$11.39
$10.00
$22.78
$20.00
$45.57
$50.00
$114
$100
$228
$500
$1,139
$1,000
$2,278
$5,000
$11,391
$10,000
$22,783
$100,000
$227,827
$1,000,000
$2,278,266
Inflation by spending category, 1987–2020
Between 1987 and 2020, medical care rose the most, up 298.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 6.8%, against 127.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1987
spending costs in 2020, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1987 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.53%
$228
Medical care
4.28%
$399
Housing
2.66%
$238
Food
2.63%
$235
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.51%
$226
Energy
2.45%
$222
Transportation
1.98%
$191
Apparel
0.20%
$107
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1987: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1987 to 2020
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.78% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1987–2020 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
2010–2020
1.73%
18.7%
$228
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1987
$100 from 1987 had already become $162 by
2003, on its way to $228 in 2020; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2020
In 2020, prices rose 1.2% and $100 from 1987 had the buying
power of $228; the year's average CPI of 258.811 is the level
behind every 2020 figure on this page.
2020 was the year the pandemic rewired the price data without triggering the
inflation spike that followed it. Consumer prices rose just 1.2% for the
year, the mildest pace since 2015, as COVID-19 lockdowns emptied roads,
closed airports, and crushed energy demand. Oil told the starkest story: on
April 20, U.S. crude futures fell to about negative $37 a barrel, the first
negative settlement in the market’s history, as storage capacity ran out and no one
wanted the physical barrels. Gasoline followed it down, falling to about
$1.80 a gallon nationally that month before recovering to average $2.17 for
the year. Grocery prices moved the other way: pantry stocking and
meatpacking-plant disruptions pushed food-at-home costs up faster than
usual, a rare case of food and energy pulling the index in opposite
directions. Washington answered with the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, signed
March 27, which sent $1,200 payments to most adults and added $600 a week
to unemployment benefits as states ordered widespread business closures.
The Federal Reserve cut its policy rate to near zero in two emergency moves
that same month and pledged to buy Treasury and mortgage bonds “in the
amounts needed” to keep credit markets working, an open-ended commitment
beyond even its 2008 response. None of it showed up in the CPI yet: the
stimulus, the supply shocks, and the reopening whiplash that followed would
build into the fastest inflation in four decades over the next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1987 to 2020: $100 is worth $228 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2020/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1987 to 2020. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2020/