$100 in 1986 is worth $205 in 2011,
because prices increased 105.2% over that period, an average of
2.92% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$205
in 2011
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
105.2%
Average inflation rate
2.92% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$205
Price difference ($100 base)
$105
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 2011
224.939
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 2011
3.16%
$100 in 1986 → 2011
$205
$100 in 2011 → 1986
$48.72
What happened to prices between 1986 and 2011
Between 1986 and 2011, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 224.939.
Cumulatively, prices increased 105.2%, which works out to an average of
2.92% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.49 buys in 2011: the 1986 dollar
lost 51.3% of its purchasing power over
these 25 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 2011 at the same ratio, 2.05: $1,000 becomes
$2,052, and $10,000 becomes $20,524.
Amount in 1986
Value in 2011
$1.00
$2.05
$5.00
$10.26
$10.00
$20.52
$20.00
$41.05
$50.00
$103
$100
$205
$500
$1,026
$1,000
$2,052
$5,000
$10,262
$10,000
$20,524
$100,000
$205,236
$1,000,000
$2,052,363
Inflation by spending category, 1986–2011
Between 1986 and 2011, medical care rose the most, up 228.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 15.3%, against 105.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 2011, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.92%
$205
Medical care
4.87%
$328
Energy
4.15%
$277
Food
2.99%
$209
Transportation
2.96%
$208
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.78%
$198
Housing
2.76%
$198
Apparel
0.57%
$115
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 2011
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 2000s (2.39% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–2011 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$199
2010–2011
3.16%
3.2%
$205
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $149 by
1998, on its way to $205 in 2011; 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 prices fell 0.4% in 2009, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 2011, prices rose 3.2% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $205; the year's average CPI of 224.939 is the level
behind every 2011 figure on this page.
2011 brought the fastest inflation of the post-recession recovery. Consumer
prices rose 3.2%, roughly double the 2010 pace, and the cause was mostly at the
pump and the grocery store. Unrest across the Middle East and North Africa,
including the war in Libya, pushed gasoline to an annual average of $3.52 a
gallon, the highest yearly figure recorded to that point. Food prices also
rose faster than the overall index.
Household budgets did not keep up. The median household income was $50,054,
barely above the year before, and the median new home sold for about $227,200.
The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and a first-class stamp at 44 cents.
Policy stayed loose. The Federal Reserve kept its policy rate near zero and
launched Operation Twist in September to lower long-term rates. Washington
spent the summer in a debt-ceiling fight that ended in S&P’s August downgrade
of the U.S. credit rating. The inflation spike proved temporary: the
2011 rate was the high point of the early 2010s, and prices grew more slowly
in every year that followed until 2017.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 2011: $100 is worth $205 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2011/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 2011. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2011/