$100 in 1986 is worth $184 in 2006,
because prices increased 83.9% over that period, an average of
3.09% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$184
in 2006
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
83.9%
Average inflation rate
3.09% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$184
Price difference ($100 base)
$83.94
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 2006
201.6
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 2006
3.23%
$100 in 1986 → 2006
$184
$100 in 2006 → 1986
$54.37
What happened to prices between 1986 and 2006
Between 1986 and 2006, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 201.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 83.9%, which works out to an average of
3.09% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.54 buys in 2006: the 1986 dollar
lost 45.6% of its purchasing power over
these 20 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 2006 at the same ratio, 1.84: $1,000 becomes
$1,839, and $10,000 becomes $18,394.
Amount in 1986
Value in 2006
$1.00
$1.84
$5.00
$9.20
$10.00
$18.39
$20.00
$36.79
$50.00
$91.97
$100
$184
$500
$920
$1,000
$1,839
$5,000
$9,197
$10,000
$18,394
$100,000
$183,942
$1,000,000
$1,839,416
Inflation by spending category, 1986–2006
Between 1986 and 2006, medical care rose the most, up 175.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 12.8%, against 83.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 2006, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.09%
$184
Medical care
5.20%
$276
Energy
4.10%
$223
Housing
3.07%
$183
Core (all items less food & energy)
3.02%
$181
Food
2.96%
$179
Transportation
2.89%
$177
Apparel
0.61%
$113
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 2006
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.66% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–2006 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
2000–2006
2.66%
17.1%
$184
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $143 by
1996, on its way to $184 in 2006; 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 2006, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $184; the year's average CPI of 201.6 is the level
behind every 2006 figure on this page.
Inflation was 3.2% in 2006 and gasoline averaged $2.59 a gallon, up 29 cents from 2005. The
median household earned about $48,200 and the median new home cost $246,500, a gain of about
2% after a 13% jump in 2004 and 9% in 2005. National home prices, by the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, peaked in mid-2006. Ben Bernanke replaced Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chair on
February 1, and on June 29 the Fed raised its policy rate to 5.25%, the last of 17 straight
quarter-point increases. It held there for over a year. A first-class stamp rose to 39 cents in
January, and the federal minimum wage was $5.15 for the ninth full year in a row.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 2006: $100 is worth $184 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2006/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 2006. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2006/