$100 in 1926 is worth $619 in 1986,
because prices increased 519.2% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$619
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
519.2%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$619
Price difference ($100 base)
$519
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1926 → 1986
$619
$100 in 1986 → 1926
$16.15
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1986
Between 1926 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 519.2%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.16 buys in 1986: the 1926 dollar
lost 83.9% of its purchasing power over
these 60 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.1% in 1926, a third straight year of mild inflation
and part of the price stability that defined the middle of the decade.
Florida’s real estate boom, which had peaked the previous year on
speculative buying of undeveloped land, ended abruptly that September when
the Great Miami Hurricane made landfall near the city, killing hundreds and
wrecking the market for land whose value had rested on continued
speculation rather than anything underneath it. In Detroit, Henry Ford moved
his company to a five-day, 40-hour work week without cutting pay, a break
from the standard six-day schedule that other large employers would
gradually adopt over the following decades; Ford argued publicly that
workers with more leisure time would also become better customers for the
cars his factories built. Consumer prices remained low enough by historical
standards that a first-class stamp still cost just 2 cents, the same price
it had held since mid-1919.
Every 1926 amount converts to 1986 at the same ratio, 6.19: $1,000 becomes
$6,192, and $10,000 becomes $61,921.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1986
$1.00
$6.19
$5.00
$30.96
$10.00
$61.92
$20.00
$124
$50.00
$310
$100
$619
$500
$3,096
$1,000
$6,192
$5,000
$30,960
$10,000
$61,921
$100,000
$619,209
$1,000,000
$6,192,090
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1986
Between 1926 and 1986, food rose the most, up 541.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 308.9%, against 519.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$619
Food
3.15%
$641
Apparel
2.37%
$409
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1926: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1926 to 1986
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1926–1986 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1926, at end
1926–1930
-1.44%
-5.6%
$94.35
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$79.10
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$136
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$167
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$219
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$466
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$619
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $154 by
1956, on its way to $619 in 1986; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1926 had the buying
power of $619; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1926 to 1986: $100 is worth $619 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1986/