$100 in 1986 is worth $124 in 1991,
because prices increased 24.3% over that period, an average of
4.44% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$124
in 1991
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
24.3%
Average inflation rate
4.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$124
Price difference ($100 base)
$24.27
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 1991
136.2
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 1991
4.21%
$100 in 1986 → 1991
$124
$100 in 1991 → 1986
$80.47
What happened to prices between 1986 and 1991
Between 1986 and 1991, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 136.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 24.3%, which works out to an average of
4.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.80 buys in 1991: the 1986 dollar
lost 19.5% of its purchasing power over
these 5 years.
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.
Every 1986 amount converts to 1991 at the same ratio, 1.24: $1,000 becomes
$1,243, and $10,000 becomes $12,427.
Amount in 1986
Value in 1991
$1.00
$1.24
$5.00
$6.21
$10.00
$12.43
$20.00
$24.85
$50.00
$62.14
$100
$124
$500
$621
$1,000
$1,243
$5,000
$6,214
$10,000
$12,427
$100,000
$124,270
$1,000,000
$1,242,701
Inflation by spending category, 1986–1991
Between 1986 and 1991, medical care rose the most, up 45.1%, while energy rose the least, up 16.2%, against 24.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 1991, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.44%
$124
Medical care
7.73%
$145
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.60%
$125
Food
4.57%
$125
Apparel
3.98%
$122
Transportation
3.89%
$121
Housing
3.79%
$120
Energy
3.05%
$116
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 1991
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (4.21% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–1991 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1986, at end
1986–1990
4.50%
19.3%
$119
1990–1991
4.21%
4.2%
$124
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $108 by
1988, on its way to $124 in 1991; 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 the smallest rise was 3.6% in 1987.
In 1991, prices rose 4.2% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $124; the year's average CPI of 136.2 is the level
behind every 1991 figure on this page.
1991 opened in recession and closed in a slow, uneven recovery. The median household earned
about $30,100 for the year, gas averaged $1.14 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $120,000.
Inflation ran at 4.2% for the year, down from 1990’s oil-driven spike, as the Gulf War ended in
February and crude oil retreated from its autumn highs. The recession itself, dated by the
National Bureau of Economic Research from July 1990 to March 1991, was technically over by
spring, but hiring stayed weak well into 1992, the stretch economists came to call the jobless
recovery. The Federal Reserve kept cutting interest rates through the year to support growth,
reversing the tightening campaign it had run through the late 1980s. In April the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 an hour, the second step of an increase from the $3.35 rate that had
held since 1981. The Postal Service had already raised the cost of a first-class stamp to 29
cents that February. It was the first full year of the decade without an oil shock driving
prices, even if the job market took longer to follow.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 1991: $100 is worth $124 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-1991/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 1991. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-1991/