$100 in 1987 is worth $276 in 2024,
because prices increased 176.1% over that period, an average of
2.78% a year.
$100 in 1987 has
the same buying power as
$276
in 2024
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
176.1%
Average inflation rate
2.78% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$276
Price difference ($100 base)
$176
CPI in 1987
113.6
CPI in 2024
313.689
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
Inflation in 2024
2.95%
$100 in 1987 → 2024
$276
$100 in 2024 → 1987
$36.21
What happened to prices between 1987 and 2024
Between 1987 and 2024, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 313.689.
Cumulatively, prices increased 176.1%, which works out to an average of
2.78% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what
$0.36 buys in 2024: the 1987 dollar
lost 63.8% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 2024 at the same ratio, 2.76: $1,000 becomes
$2,761, and $10,000 becomes $27,613.
Amount in 1987
Value in 2024
$1.00
$2.76
$5.00
$13.81
$10.00
$27.61
$20.00
$55.23
$50.00
$138
$100
$276
$500
$1,381
$1,000
$2,761
$5,000
$13,807
$10,000
$27,613
$100,000
$276,135
$1,000,000
$2,761,347
Inflation by spending category, 1987–2024
Between 1987 and 2024, medical care rose the most, up 333.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 18.9%, against 176.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1987
spending costs in 2024, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1987 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.78%
$276
Medical care
4.04%
$433
Energy
3.15%
$316
Housing
2.94%
$293
Food
2.93%
$291
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.72%
$270
Transportation
2.58%
$257
Apparel
0.47%
$119
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1987: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1987 to 2024
Prices climbed fastest in the 2020s, averaging 4.93% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.73% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1987–2024 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
2020–2024
4.93%
21.2%
$276
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1987
$100 from 1987 had already become $172 by
2005, on its way to $276 in 2024; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 8.0% in 2022, 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: 2024
In 2024, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1987 had the buying
power of $276; the year's average CPI of 313.689 is the level
behind every 2024 figure on this page.
2024 brought inflation close to normal without fully reaching it. Consumer
prices rose 2.9% on average, the smallest yearly increase since 2020, and the
December-to-December rate was also 2.9%. Gasoline averaged $3.30 a gallon,
below 2023’s $3.52. Shelter stayed the biggest driver of the index, so the
pace of price growth in categories that households can’t easily avoid, such as
rent and insurance, lagged the drop in goods and energy costs.
The Federal Reserve declared progress in September, cutting its policy rate
by half a point, the first reduction since the pandemic emergency, and then
by a quarter point in November and again in December. Mortgage rates near 7%
kept the housing market frozen for many would-be buyers.
Median household income was $83,730, the federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 73 cents in July. After the November election,
attention turned to how announced tariffs and tax policy might affect prices
in 2025.
MLA: “Inflation from 1987 to 2024: $100 is worth $276 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2024/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1987 to 2024. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1987-to-2024/