$100 in 1986 is worth $178 in 2005,
because prices increased 78.2% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$178
in 2005
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
78.2%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$178
Price difference ($100 base)
$78.19
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 2005
195.3
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 2005
3.39%
$100 in 1986 → 2005
$178
$100 in 2005 → 1986
$56.12
What happened to prices between 1986 and 2005
Between 1986 and 2005, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 195.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 78.2%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.56 buys in 2005: the 1986 dollar
lost 43.9% of its purchasing power over
these 19 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 2005 at the same ratio, 1.78: $1,000 becomes
$1,782, and $10,000 becomes $17,819.
Amount in 1986
Value in 2005
$1.00
$1.78
$5.00
$8.91
$10.00
$17.82
$20.00
$35.64
$50.00
$89.10
$100
$178
$500
$891
$1,000
$1,782
$5,000
$8,910
$10,000
$17,819
$100,000
$178,193
$1,000,000
$1,781,934
Inflation by spending category, 1986–2005
Between 1986 and 2005, medical care rose the most, up 164.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 12.8%, against 78.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 2005, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$178
Medical care
5.26%
$265
Energy
3.74%
$201
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.05%
$177
Housing
3.03%
$176
Food
2.99%
$175
Transportation
2.83%
$170
Apparel
0.64%
$113
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 2005
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.55% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–2005 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
2000–2005
2.55%
13.4%
$178
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $139 by
1995, on its way to $178 in 2005; 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 2005, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $178; the year's average CPI of 195.3 is the level
behind every 2005 figure on this page.
Inflation rose to 3.4% in 2005, up from 2.7% in 2004, as gasoline averaged $2.30 a gallon,
compared with $1.88 the year before. Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, and with
Hurricane Rita weeks later it disrupted Gulf Coast refining, pushing the national average
price past $3 in early September. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate at every meeting,
from 2.25% to 4.25%, to keep energy costs from feeding into other prices. The median household
earned about $46,300, up 4.5% from 2004, but the median new home price rose a further 9%, to
$240,900. In April, Congress passed a bankruptcy law that made it harder to clear debts. A
first-class stamp stayed at 37 cents until January 2006, and the federal minimum wage stayed
at $5.15.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 2005: $100 is worth $178 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2005/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 2005. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2005/