$100 in 1986 is worth $168 in 2003,
because prices increased 67.9% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$168
in 2003
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
67.9%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$168
Price difference ($100 base)
$67.88
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 2003
184
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 2003
2.28%
$100 in 1986 → 2003
$168
$100 in 2003 → 1986
$59.57
What happened to prices between 1986 and 2003
Between 1986 and 2003, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 184.
Cumulatively, prices increased 67.9%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.60 buys in 2003: the 1986 dollar
lost 40.4% of its purchasing power over
these 17 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 2003 at the same ratio, 1.68: $1,000 becomes
$1,679, and $10,000 becomes $16,788.
Amount in 1986
Value in 2003
$1.00
$1.68
$5.00
$8.39
$10.00
$16.79
$20.00
$33.58
$50.00
$83.94
$100
$168
$500
$839
$1,000
$1,679
$5,000
$8,394
$10,000
$16,788
$100,000
$167,883
$1,000,000
$1,678,832
Inflation by spending category, 1986–2003
Between 1986 and 2003, medical care rose the most, up 143.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 14.2%, against 67.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 2003, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$168
Medical care
5.38%
$244
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.18%
$170
Housing
3.05%
$167
Food
2.99%
$165
Energy
2.60%
$155
Transportation
2.57%
$154
Apparel
0.78%
$114
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 2003
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.23% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–2003 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1986, at end
1986–1990
4.50%
19.3%
$119
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$157
2000–2003
2.23%
6.9%
$168
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $135 by
1994, on its way to $168 in 2003; 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 2003, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $168; the year's average CPI of 184 is the level
behind every 2003 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.3% in 2003, up from 1.6% in 2002, as gasoline climbed from $1.36 to $1.59 a
gallon around the March invasion of Iraq. Even so, the Federal Reserve spent the year worried
about prices being too low: on June 25 it cut its policy rate to 1.0%, the lowest since 1958,
and said the risk of deflation, though small, deserved a response. The median household earned
about $43,300 and a new home cost roughly $195,000. Congress passed a second round of tax cuts
in May, and the economy grew faster in the second half of the year than at any point since
1999. Hiring lagged the recovery, and unemployment peaked at 6.3% in June. A first-class stamp
stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 2003: $100 is worth $168 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2003/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 2003. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2003/