$100 in 1986 is worth $233 in 2019,
because prices increased 133.3% over that period, an average of
2.60% a year.
$100 in 1986 has
the same buying power as
$233
in 2019
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
133.3%
Average inflation rate
2.60% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$233
Price difference ($100 base)
$133
CPI in 1986
109.6
CPI in 2019
255.657
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
Inflation in 2019
1.81%
$100 in 1986 → 2019
$233
$100 in 2019 → 1986
$42.87
What happened to prices between 1986 and 2019
Between 1986 and 2019, the Consumer Price Index went from 109.6 to 255.657.
Cumulatively, prices increased 133.3%, which works out to an average of
2.60% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1986 bought what
$0.43 buys in 2019: the 1986 dollar
lost 57.1% of its purchasing power over
these 33 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 2019 at the same ratio, 2.33: $1,000 becomes
$2,333, and $10,000 becomes $23,326.
Amount in 1986
Value in 2019
$1.00
$2.33
$5.00
$11.66
$10.00
$23.33
$20.00
$46.65
$50.00
$117
$100
$233
$500
$1,166
$1,000
$2,333
$5,000
$11,663
$10,000
$23,326
$100,000
$233,264
$1,000,000
$2,332,637
Inflation by spending category, 1986–2019
Between 1986 and 2019, medical care rose the most, up 308.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 17.1%, against 133.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1986
spending costs in 2019, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1986 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.60%
$233
Medical care
4.36%
$409
Energy
2.74%
$244
Housing
2.69%
$240
Food
2.65%
$237
Core (all items less food & energy)
2.58%
$232
Transportation
2.20%
$205
Apparel
0.48%
$117
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1986: recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1986 to 2019
Prices climbed fastest in the 1980s, averaging 4.50% a year, and slowest in the 2010s (1.78% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1986–2019 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
2010–2019
1.78%
17.2%
$233
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1986
$100 from 1986 had already become $164 by
2002, on its way to $233 in 2019; 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: 2019
In 2019, prices rose 1.8% and $100 from 1986 had the buying
power of $233; the year's average CPI of 255.657 is the level
behind every 2019 figure on this page.
2019 was the last ordinary year before COVID-19. Consumer prices rose 1.8%,
slightly under the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, with gasoline averaging
$2.60 a gallon. Median household income jumped to $68,703, the highest on
record up to that point, and the median new home sold for about $328,000. A
first-class stamp rose to 55 cents.
The Fed reversed course. After four increases in 2018, it cut rates three
times, to 1.50–1.75%, citing slower global growth, trade tensions, and low
inflation. In July the expansion that began in June 2009 became the longest in
U.S. records, and in August the yield curve briefly inverted, a signal
investors read as a recession warning.
For workers at the bottom of the pay scale, 2019 marked a milestone of a
different kind. The federal minimum wage stayed at $7.25 and reached its tenth
year without an increase, the longest gap since the wage was first set. Because
prices had climbed about 19% since it was last raised in 2009, its buying power
was lower than at any point in that span.
MLA: “Inflation from 1986 to 2019: $100 is worth $233 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2019/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1986 to 2019. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1986-to-2019/