$100 in 1986 is worth $172 in 2004,
because prices increased 72.4% over that period, an average of
3.07% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$172
in 2004
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
72.4%
Average inflation rate
3.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$172
Price difference ($100 base)
$72.35
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 2004
188.9
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 2004
2.66%
$100 in 1986 → 2004
$172
$100 in 2004 → 1986
$58.02
What happened to prices between 1986 and 2004
Between 1986 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 188.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 72.4%, which works out to an average of
3.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.58 buys in 2004: the 1986 dollar
lost 42.0% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 2004 at the same ratio, 1.72: $1,000 becomes
$1,724, and $10,000 becomes $17,235.
Amount in 1986
Value in 2004
$1.00
$1.72
$5.00
$8.62
$10.00
$17.24
$20.00
$34.47
$50.00
$86.18
$100
$172
$500
$862
$1,000
$1,724
$5,000
$8,618
$10,000
$17,235
$100,000
$172,354
$1,000,000
$1,723,540
Inflation by spending category, 1986–2004
Between 1986 and 2004, medical care rose the most, up 154.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 13.7%, against 72.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 2004, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.07%
$172
Medical care
5.32%
$254
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.10%
$173
Energy
3.05%
$172
Housing
3.02%
$171
Food
3.02%
$171
Transportation
2.63%
$159
Apparel
0.72%
$114
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 2004
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.34% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–2004 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
2000–2004
2.34%
9.7%
$172
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $139 by
1995, on its way to $172 in 2004; 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 2004, prices rose 2.7% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $172; the year's average CPI of 188.9 is the level
behind every 2004 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.7% in 2004, with a 29-cent jump in the price of gasoline, to $1.88 a
gallon, doing much of the work. Crude oil passed $50 a barrel in October on rising demand
from China and India. The Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time in four years on
June 30, to 1.25%, and it kept going: 17 consecutive quarter-point increases took the rate to
5.25% by June 2006. Housing was already running ahead of incomes. The median household earned
about $44,300, up 2.3% from 2003, while the median new home sold for $221,000, up about 13%. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents and the federal minimum wage at $5.15, unchanged since
1997.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 2004: $100 is worth $172 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2004/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 2004. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2004/