$100 in 1986 is worth $132 in 1993,
because prices increased 31.8% over that period, an average of
4.03% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$132
in 1993
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
31.8%
Average inflation rate
4.03% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$132
Price difference ($100 base)
$31.84
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 1993
144.5
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 1993
2.99%
$100 in 1986 → 1993
$132
$100 in 1993 → 1986
$75.85
What happened to prices between 1986 and 1993
Between 1986 and 1993, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 144.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 31.8%, which works out to an average of
4.03% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.76 buys in 1993: the 1986 dollar
lost 24.2% of its purchasing power over
these 7 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 1993 at the same ratio, 1.32: $1,000 becomes
$1,318, and $10,000 becomes $13,184.
Amount in 1986
Value in 1993
$1.00
$1.32
$5.00
$6.59
$10.00
$13.18
$20.00
$26.37
$50.00
$65.92
$100
$132
$500
$659
$1,000
$1,318
$5,000
$6,592
$10,000
$13,184
$100,000
$131,843
$1,000,000
$1,318,431
Inflation by spending category, 1986–1993
Between 1986 and 1993, medical care rose the most, up 65.1%, while energy rose the least, up 18.1%, against 31.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 1993, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.03%
$132
Medical care
7.42%
$165
Core (all items less food & energy)
4.28%
$134
Food
3.74%
$129
Transportation
3.53%
$127
Housing
3.51%
$127
Apparel
3.39%
$126
Energy
2.41%
$118
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 1993
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.40% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–1993 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1986, at end
1986–1990
4.50%
19.3%
$119
1990–1993
3.40%
10.6%
$132
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $113 by
1989, on its way to $132 in 1993; 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 3.0% in 1993.
In 1993, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $132; the year's average CPI of 144.5 is the level
behind every 1993 figure on this page.
By 1993, the median household earned about $31,200, gas averaged $1.11 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $126,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, holding close to where it had settled
the year before as the recovery slowly gathered strength. Washington spent much of the year on
two pieces of unfinished business from the recession: a deficit-reduction package, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act, that raised the top income tax rate to 39.6% to start narrowing a
budget gap left over from the 1980s, and a trade deal, the North American Free Trade Agreement,
that President Clinton signed into law in December after a contentious fight in Congress. NAFTA
phased out most tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada and took effect the following
January. The year’s other defining event had nothing to do with the economy: in February, a bomb
exploded in the World Trade Center’s parking garage, killing six people and injuring more than a
thousand. By year’s end, the pieces of the decade’s later economic story, freer trade, a
shrinking deficit, and inflation holding near 3%, were already in place.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 1993: $100 is worth $132 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-1993/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 1993. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-1993/