$100 in 1931 is worth $721 in 1986,
because prices increased 621.1% over that period, an average of
3.66% a year.
$100 in 1931 has
the same buying power as
$721
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
621.1%
Average inflation rate
3.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$721
Price difference ($100 base)
$621
CPI in 1931
15.2
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1931
-8.98%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1931 → 1986
$721
$100 in 1986 → 1931
$13.87
What happened to prices between 1931 and 1986
Between 1931 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 15.2 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 621.1%, which works out to an average of
3.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1931 bought what
$0.14 buys in 1986: the 1931 dollar
lost 86.1% of its purchasing power over
these 55 years.
Consumer prices fell 9.0% in 1931, a sharp acceleration from the 2.3% decline
in 1930, as falling wages, collapsing farm prices, and a fresh
wave of bank failures fed a downward spiral that the still-contracting
economy could not shake. More than 2,000 banks failed during the year, far
more than in 1930, as depositors who had watched earlier banks go under
pulled their cash out of ones they feared were next. The crisis went
international that September, when Britain suspended the gold standard amid
a run on sterling. The Federal Reserve’s response made the domestic downturn
worse before it made anything better: to defend the dollar’s own gold
backing, the Fed raised its discount rate sharply that October, in two steps
from 1.5% to 3.5%, tightening credit at the exact moment the economy needed
the opposite. Not every headline that year was grim. The Empire State
Building opened its doors on May 1, briefly the tallest building in the
world, though so much of Manhattan’s office space sat vacant amid the
Depression that tenants stayed scarce and New Yorkers took to calling it the
“Empty State Building.” Consumer prices had now fallen for two straight
years and stood 53.5% above their 1913 level, down from the
68.7% margin of just twelve months before. First-class postage remained at 2
cents.
Every 1931 amount converts to 1986 at the same ratio, 7.21: $1,000 becomes
$7,211, and $10,000 becomes $72,105.
Amount in 1931
Value in 1986
$1.00
$7.21
$5.00
$36.05
$10.00
$72.11
$20.00
$144
$50.00
$361
$100
$721
$500
$3,605
$1,000
$7,211
$5,000
$36,053
$10,000
$72,105
$100,000
$721,053
$1,000,000
$7,210,526
Inflation by spending category, 1931–1986
Between 1931 and 1986, food rose the most, up 745.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 381.4%, against 621.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1931
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1931 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.66%
$721
Food
3.96%
$845
Apparel
2.90%
$481
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1931: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1931 to 1986
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and fell in the 1930s (0.9% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1931–1986 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1931, at end
1931–1940
-0.91%
-7.9%
$92.11
1940–1950
5.58%
72.1%
$159
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$195
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$255
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$542
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$721
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1931
$100 from 1931 had already become $191 by
1959, on its way to $721 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 1931 had the buying
power of $721; 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 1931 to 1986: $100 is worth $721 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1931-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1931 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1931-to-1986/