$100 in 1987 is worth $239 in 2021,
because prices increased 138.5% over that period, an average of
2.59% a year.
$100 in 1987 has
the same buying power as
$239
in 2021
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
138.5%
Average inflation rate
2.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$239
Price difference ($100 base)
$139
CPI in 1987
113.6
CPI in 2021
270.97
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
Inflation in 2021
4.70%
$100 in 1987 → 2021
$239
$100 in 2021 → 1987
$41.92
What happened to prices between 1987 and 2021
Between 1987 and 2021, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 270.97.
Cumulatively, prices increased 138.5%, which works out to an average of
2.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what
$0.42 buys in 2021: the 1987 dollar
lost 58.1% of its purchasing power over
these 34 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 2021 at the same ratio, 2.39: $1,000 becomes
$2,385, and $10,000 becomes $23,853.
Amount in 1987
Value in 2021
$1.00
$2.39
$5.00
$11.93
$10.00
$23.85
$20.00
$47.71
$50.00
$119
$100
$239
$500
$1,193
$1,000
$2,385
$5,000
$11,926
$10,000
$23,853
$100,000
$238,530
$1,000,000
$2,385,299
Inflation by spending category, 1987–2021
Between 1987 and 2021, medical care rose the most, up 303.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 9.4%, against 138.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1987
spending costs in 2021, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1987 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.59%
$239
Medical care
4.19%
$404
Energy
2.95%
$269
Housing
2.68%
$246
Food
2.67%
$245
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.54%
$235
Transportation
2.33%
$219
Apparel
0.26%
$109
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1987: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1987 to 2021
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 1987–2021 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
2020–2021
4.70%
4.7%
$239
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1987
$100 from 1987 had already become $162 by
2003, on its way to $239 in 2021; 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: 2021
In 2021, prices rose 4.7% and $100 from 1987 had the buying
power of $239; the year's average CPI of 270.97 is the level
behind every 2021 figure on this page.
2021 was the year inflation stopped being background noise. Consumer prices
rose 4.7% on average for the year, and the pace kept building as the months
went on: by December, the 12-month rate had reached 7.0%, the highest since
1982. The proximate cause was a supply chain that could not keep up with a
fast-reopening economy. A global semiconductor shortage choked new car
production and pushed used vehicle prices up by more than a third, the
single largest line item in the year’s inflation math. Lumber, appliances,
and shipping capacity told versions of the same story: demand snapped back
faster than factories, ports, and truckers could handle it. Washington added
fuel in March with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, on top of the
relief already in the pipeline since 2020. For most of the year, the Federal
Reserve called the price surge “transitory,” a temporary reopening effect
expected to fade on its own, and held its policy rate near zero. By
November, with inflation still climbing, the Fed reversed course and began
winding down its bond purchases, the first step toward the rate hikes that
would follow in 2022. Gas averaged $3.01 a gallon for the year, up from
about $2.17 in 2020, while the federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
unchanged since 2009. In hindsight, 2021 reads as the hinge year: the point
where “transitory” inflation became the multi-year fight the Fed spent the
next two years trying to win.
MLA: “Inflation from 1987 to 2021: $100 is worth $239 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2021/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1987 to 2021. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2021/