$100 in 1986 is worth $146 in 1997,
because prices increased 46.4% over that period, an average of
3.53% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$146
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
46.4%
Average inflation rate
3.53% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$146
Price difference ($100 base)
$46.44
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1986 → 1997
$146
$100 in 1997 → 1986
$68.29
What happened to prices between 1986 and 1997
Between 1986 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 46.4%, which works out to an average of
3.53% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.68 buys in 1997: the 1986 dollar
lost 31.7% of its purchasing power over
these 11 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 1997 at the same ratio, 1.46: $1,000 becomes
$1,464, and $10,000 becomes $14,644.
Amount in 1986
Value in 1997
$1.00
$1.46
$5.00
$7.32
$10.00
$14.64
$20.00
$29.29
$50.00
$73.22
$100
$146
$500
$732
$1,000
$1,464
$5,000
$7,322
$10,000
$14,644
$100,000
$146,442
$1,000,000
$1,464,416
Inflation by spending category, 1986–1997
Between 1986 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 92.3%, while apparel rose the least, up 25.5%, against 46.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.53%
$146
Medical care
6.12%
$192
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.71%
$149
Food
3.39%
$144
Housing
3.20%
$141
Transportation
3.18%
$141
Energy
2.15%
$126
Apparel
2.09%
$125
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 1997
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.98% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–1997 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1986, at end
1986–1990
4.50%
19.3%
$119
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$146
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $124 by
1991, on its way to $146 in 1997; 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 2.3% in 1997.
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $146; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 1997: $100 is worth $146 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-1997/