$100 in 1986 is worth $139 in 1995,
because prices increased 39.1% over that period, an average of
3.73% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$139
in 1995
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
39.1%
Average inflation rate
3.73% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$139
Price difference ($100 base)
$39.05
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 1995
152.4
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 1995
2.83%
$100 in 1986 → 1995
$139
$100 in 1995 → 1986
$71.92
What happened to prices between 1986 and 1995
Between 1986 and 1995, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 152.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 39.1%, which works out to an average of
3.73% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.72 buys in 1995: the 1986 dollar
lost 28.1% of its purchasing power over
these 9 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 1995 at the same ratio, 1.39: $1,000 becomes
$1,391, and $10,000 becomes $13,905.
Amount in 1986
Value in 1995
$1.00
$1.39
$5.00
$6.95
$10.00
$13.91
$20.00
$27.81
$50.00
$69.53
$100
$139
$500
$695
$1,000
$1,391
$5,000
$6,953
$10,000
$13,905
$100,000
$139,051
$1,000,000
$1,390,511
Inflation by spending category, 1986–1995
Between 1986 and 1995, medical care rose the most, up 80.7%, while energy rose the least, up 19.3%, against 39.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 1995, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.73%
$139
Medical care
6.80%
$181
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.98%
$142
Food
3.49%
$136
Transportation
3.47%
$136
Housing
3.30%
$134
Apparel
2.48%
$125
Energy
1.98%
$119
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 1995
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (3.12% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–1995 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1986, at end
1986–1990
4.50%
19.3%
$119
1990–1995
3.12%
16.6%
$139
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $119 by
1990, on its way to $139 in 1995; 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 2.6% in 1994.
In 1995, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $139; the year's average CPI of 152.4 is the level
behind every 1995 figure on this page.
In 1995, gas averaged $1.15 a gallon, a new home cost roughly $133,900, and the median household
earned about $34,100. Inflation ran at 2.8% for the year, little changed from 1994, as the
Federal Reserve shifted from raising rates to cutting them. Having lifted its policy rate six
times the year before, the Fed judged by July that the economy had cooled enough on its own, and
trimmed rates instead, an outcome economists would later point to as a rare soft landing. The
year opened with a currency crisis: Mexico’s peso lost roughly half its value against the dollar
in a matter of weeks, and the U.S. Treasury and the IMF assembled a $50 billion rescue package,
controversial in Congress, to stabilize it and keep the crisis from spreading to other emerging
markets. Closer to home, a budget standoff between President Clinton and the Republican Congress
shut down federal agencies twice, first for five days in November and then for 21 days spanning
December into January 1996, the longest shutdown up to that point. The Postal Service raised the
cost of a first-class stamp to 32 cents in January. Low, steady inflation was about the only calm
part of 1995’s economic story.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 1995: $100 is worth $139 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-1995/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 1995. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-1995/