$100 in 1986 is worth $189 in 2007,
because prices increased 89.2% over that period, an average of
3.08% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$189
in 2007
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
89.2%
Average inflation rate
3.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$189
Price difference ($100 base)
$89.18
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 2007
207.342
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 2007
2.85%
$100 in 1986 → 2007
$189
$100 in 2007 → 1986
$52.86
What happened to prices between 1986 and 2007
Between 1986 and 2007, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 207.342.
Cumulatively, prices increased 89.2%, which works out to an average of
3.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.53 buys in 2007: the 1986 dollar
lost 47.1% of its purchasing power over
these 21 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 2007 at the same ratio, 1.89: $1,000 becomes
$1,892, and $10,000 becomes $18,918.
Amount in 1986
Value in 2007
$1.00
$1.89
$5.00
$9.46
$10.00
$18.92
$20.00
$37.84
$50.00
$94.59
$100
$189
$500
$946
$1,000
$1,892
$5,000
$9,459
$10,000
$18,918
$100,000
$189,181
$1,000,000
$1,891,807
Inflation by spending category, 1986–2007
Between 1986 and 2007, medical care rose the most, up 187.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 12.4%, against 89.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 2007, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.08%
$189
Medical care
5.16%
$288
Energy
4.16%
$236
Housing
3.08%
$189
Food
3.00%
$186
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.99%
$186
Transportation
2.85%
$181
Apparel
0.56%
$112
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 2007
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–2007 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
2000–2007
2.69%
20.4%
$189
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $143 by
1996, on its way to $189 in 2007; 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 2007, prices rose 2.8% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $189; the year's average CPI of 207.342 is the level
behind every 2007 figure on this page.
Inflation was 2.8% in 2007, with gasoline averaging $2.80 a gallon, but the year is better
known for what began underneath prices. In August, French bank BNP Paribas froze funds tied to
U.S. subprime mortgages, and credit between banks tightened. The Federal Reserve responded with
a half-point cut on September 18, its first in four years, and took the policy rate from 5.25% to
4.25% by December. The economy peaked that month, by the National Bureau of Economic Research’s
dating, and the Great Recession followed. The median household earned about $50,200, and the
median new home cost $247,900. Congress ended the decade-long freeze on the federal minimum wage
in May, with the first of three steps to $5.85 in July. A first-class stamp cost 41 cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 2007: $100 is worth $189 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2007/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 2007. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2007/