$100 in 1986 is worth $224 in 2017,
because prices increased 123.6% over that period, an average of
2.63% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$224
in 2017
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
123.6%
Average inflation rate
2.63% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$224
Price difference ($100 base)
$124
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 2017
245.12
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 2017
2.13%
$100 in 1986 → 2017
$224
$100 in 2017 → 1986
$44.71
What happened to prices between 1986 and 2017
Between 1986 and 2017, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 245.12.
Cumulatively, prices increased 123.6%, which works out to an average of
2.63% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.45 buys in 2017: the 1986 dollar
lost 55.3% of its purchasing power over
these 31 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 2017 at the same ratio, 2.24: $1,000 becomes
$2,236, and $10,000 becomes $22,365.
Amount in 1986
Value in 2017
$1.00
$2.24
$5.00
$11.18
$10.00
$22.36
$20.00
$44.73
$50.00
$112
$100
$224
$500
$1,118
$1,000
$2,236
$5,000
$11,182
$10,000
$22,365
$100,000
$223,650
$1,000,000
$2,236,496
Inflation by spending category, 1986–2017
Between 1986 and 2017, medical care rose the most, up 289.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 18.6%, against 123.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 2017, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.63%
$224
Medical care
4.48%
$390
Energy
2.75%
$232
Food
2.71%
$229
Housing
2.67%
$227
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.61%
$222
Transportation
2.21%
$197
Apparel
0.55%
$119
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 2017
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.69% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–2017 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
2010–2017
1.69%
12.4%
$224
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $164 by
2002, on its way to $224 in 2017; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2017
In 2017, prices rose 2.1% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $224; the year's average CPI of 245.12 is the level
behind every 2017 figure on this page.
2017 pushed consumer prices back above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The
CPI rose 2.1%, the first reading over 2% in five years, helped by a rebound
in energy after OPEC’s output cuts and by a storm-related spike at the pump:
Hurricane Harvey shut a large part of Gulf Coast refining in late August.
Gasoline averaged $2.42 a gallon, up from $2.14 in 2016.
Household incomes kept rising. The median household income reached $61,372,
and the median new home sold for about $322,100. The federal minimum wage
stayed at $7.25, its eighth year at that level, and a first-class stamp rose
to 49 cents.
The Fed raised rates three times, to 1.25–1.50%, and in October began
letting its bond holdings shrink. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
in December, lowering the corporate rate to 21%. Even with unemployment near
4%, core inflation stayed under 2%, a puzzle that shaped Fed debates for the
next two years.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 2017: $100 is worth $224 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2017/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 2017. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2017/