Value of $100 in 1987, adjusted to 2026

What happened to prices between 1987 and 2026

Between 1987 and 2026, the Consumer Price Index went from 113.6 to 332.243. Cumulatively, prices increased 192.5%, which works out to an average of 2.79% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1987 bought what $0.34 buys in 2026: the 1987 dollar lost 65.8% of its purchasing power over these 39 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.

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The destination year: 2026

In 2026, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1987 had the buying power of $292; the year's average CPI of 332.243 is the level behind every 2026 figure on this page.