$100 in 1986 is worth $149 in 1998,
because prices increased 48.7% over that period, an average of
3.36% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$149
in 1998
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
48.7%
Average inflation rate
3.36% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$149
Price difference ($100 base)
$48.72
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 1998
163
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 1998
1.56%
$100 in 1986 → 1998
$149
$100 in 1998 → 1986
$67.24
What happened to prices between 1986 and 1998
Between 1986 and 1998, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 163.
Cumulatively, prices increased 48.7%, which works out to an average of
3.36% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.67 buys in 1998: the 1986 dollar
lost 32.8% of its purchasing power over
these 12 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 1998 at the same ratio, 1.49: $1,000 becomes
$1,487, and $10,000 becomes $14,872.
Amount in 1986
Value in 1998
$1.00
$1.49
$5.00
$7.44
$10.00
$14.87
$20.00
$29.74
$50.00
$74.36
$100
$149
$500
$744
$1,000
$1,487
$5,000
$7,436
$10,000
$14,872
$100,000
$148,723
$1,000,000
$1,487,226
Inflation by spending category, 1986–1998
Between 1986 and 1998, medical care rose the most, up 98.4%, while energy rose the least, up 16.7%, against 48.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 1998, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.36%
$149
Medical care
5.88%
$198
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.59%
$153
Food
3.29%
$147
Housing
3.12%
$145
Transportation
2.75%
$138
Apparel
1.92%
$126
Energy
1.29%
$117
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 1998
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 1990s (2.80% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–1998 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1986, at end
1986–1990
4.50%
19.3%
$119
1990–1998
2.80%
24.7%
$149
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $128 by
1992, on its way to $149 in 1998; 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 1.6% in 1998.
In 1998, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $149; the year's average CPI of 163 is the level
behind every 1998 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $38,900 in 1998, gas averaged just $1.06 a gallon, its
cheapest of the decade, and a new home cost roughly $152,500. Inflation ran at 1.6% for the
year, the lowest of the 1990s, as a glut of crude oil, worsened by weak demand from Asia’s
slowdown, pushed prices below $11 a barrel by December and pulled pump prices down with them.
The calm at home came alongside real turmoil abroad: in August, Russia devalued the ruble and
defaulted on its domestic debt, rattling markets already unsettled by the Asian financial
crisis, and in September the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management collapsed after its highly
leveraged bets went bad, prompting the Federal Reserve to organize a private-sector bailout by
more than a dozen banks to prevent a disorderly unwinding of its roughly $100 billion in
positions. The Fed also cut interest rates three times that fall, in September, October, and
November, an insurance policy against the global financial turmoil spreading to the U.S.
economy. Cheap oil and a well-timed set of rate cuts left 1998 as a year the U.S. economy
absorbed two foreign financial crises without much of a dent at home.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 1998: $100 is worth $149 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-1998/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 1998. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-1998/