$100 in 1986 is worth $209 in 2012,
because prices increased 109.5% over that period, an average of
2.88% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$209
in 2012
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
109.5%
Average inflation rate
2.88% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$209
Price difference ($100 base)
$109
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 2012
229.594
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 2012
2.07%
$100 in 1986 → 2012
$209
$100 in 2012 → 1986
$47.74
What happened to prices between 1986 and 2012
Between 1986 and 2012, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 229.594.
Cumulatively, prices increased 109.5%, which works out to an average of
2.88% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.48 buys in 2012: the 1986 dollar
lost 52.3% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 2012 at the same ratio, 2.09: $1,000 becomes
$2,095, and $10,000 becomes $20,948.
Amount in 1986
Value in 2012
$1.00
$2.09
$5.00
$10.47
$10.00
$20.95
$20.00
$41.90
$50.00
$105
$100
$209
$500
$1,047
$1,000
$2,095
$5,000
$10,474
$10,000
$20,948
$100,000
$209,484
$1,000,000
$2,094,836
Inflation by spending category, 1986–2012
Between 1986 and 2012, medical care rose the most, up 240.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 19.2%, against 109.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 2012, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.88%
$209
Medical care
4.82%
$340
Energy
4.03%
$279
Food
2.98%
$214
Transportation
2.94%
$212
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.75%
$202
Housing
2.72%
$201
Apparel
0.68%
$119
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 2012
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 1986–2012 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
2010–2012
2.61%
5.3%
$209
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $152 by
1999, on its way to $209 in 2012; 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 2012, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $209; the year's average CPI of 229.594 is the level
behind every 2012 figure on this page.
2012 put a number on what the Federal Reserve was aiming for. In January the
Fed announced a 2% inflation target, and consumer prices rose 2.1% for the
year, almost exactly on it. Gasoline averaged $3.62 a gallon, another annual
high, but the pace of increase cooled from 2011’s 3.2% as food and core prices
grew more slowly.
The bigger story was housing and jobs. Home prices began to recover, and the
median new home sold for about $245,200, up from $227,200 the year before.
Median household income was $51,017. The federal minimum wage held at $7.25,
and a first-class stamp rose to 45 cents.
In September the Fed started a third round of asset purchases, this one with
no fixed end date, aimed at lowering unemployment. Overseas, the European
Central Bank’s July pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro calmed
bond markets. A summer drought across the Midwest drove corn and soybean
prices to records, a shock that reached grocery shelves only partly, because
most of what shoppers pay for food covers processing and transport rather than
raw crops.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 2012: $100 is worth $209 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2012/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 2012. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2012/