$100 in 1915 is worth $239 in 1948,
because prices increased 138.6% over that period, an average of
2.67% a year.
$100 in 1915 has
the same buying power as
$239
in 1948
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
138.6%
Average inflation rate
2.67% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$239
Price difference ($100 base)
$139
CPI in 1915
10.1
CPI in 1948
24.1
Inflation in 1915
1.00%
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
$100 in 1915 → 1948
$239
$100 in 1948 → 1915
$41.91
What happened to prices between 1915 and 1948
Between 1915 and 1948, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.1 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 138.6%, which works out to an average of
2.67% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1915 bought what
$0.42 buys in 1948: the 1915 dollar
lost 58.1% of its purchasing power over
these 33 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.0% in 1915, the second straight year of near-flat
inflation before the wartime price surges of 1916 through 1918. The year’s
defining event had nothing to do with prices directly: a German submarine
sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast on May 7, killing 128
Americans and hardening U.S. opinion against Germany two years before the
country entered the war. Economically, 1915 was a turning point of a
different kind. A recession that had dragged on since 1913 began lifting as
Britain and France placed growing orders for steel, munitions, and other war
materiel with American manufacturers, and U.S. exports to the Allied powers
climbed sharply through the year. That demand would keep building through
1916, eventually pulling prices up with it. On the regulatory
side, the Federal Trade Commission opened for business in March, taking on
enforcement of the Clayton Antitrust Act that Congress had passed the
previous fall. A first-class stamp still cost 2 cents, unchanged since 1885
and still two years from its first wartime increase.
Every 1915 amount converts to 1948 at the same ratio, 2.39: $1,000 becomes
$2,386, and $10,000 becomes $23,861.
Amount in 1915
Value in 1948
$1.00
$2.39
$5.00
$11.93
$10.00
$23.86
$20.00
$47.72
$50.00
$119
$100
$239
$500
$1,193
$1,000
$2,386
$5,000
$11,931
$10,000
$23,861
$100,000
$238,614
$1,000,000
$2,386,139
Inflation by spending category, 1915–1948
Between 1915 and 1948, apparel rose the most, up 177.8%, while food rose the least, up 161.0%, against 138.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1915
spending costs in 1948, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1915 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.67%
$239
Apparel
3.14%
$278
Food
2.95%
$261
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1915: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1915 to 1948
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 14.64% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1915–1948 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1915, at end
1915–1920
14.64%
98.0%
$198
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$165
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$139
1940–1948
7.03%
72.1%
$239
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1915
$100 from 1915 had already become $150 by
1931, on its way to $239 in 1948; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 18.0% in 1918, and prices fell 10.5% in 1921, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1948
In 1948, prices rose 8.1% and $100 from 1915 had the buying
power of $239; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1948 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 8.1% in 1948, down slightly from 1947’s
14.4% but still the second straight year of sharp postwar inflation now
that wartime price controls were fully gone. Congress moved to stabilize a
different economy that April, passing the Economic Cooperation Act to fund
the plan Secretary of State George Marshall had proposed the year before:
more than $13 billion over four years to rebuild Western Europe and counter
Soviet influence. The Cold War turned tense closer to the plan’s target
that June, when Soviet forces cut off road and rail access to the
Western-controlled sectors of Berlin. American and British aircraft
responded almost immediately with an airlift of food, fuel, and supplies
that would keep the city running for nearly a year. Domestic politics
produced its own upset that November: nearly every poll and pundit had
predicted a Republican win, but Harry Truman defeated New York Governor
Thomas Dewey, handing the Chicago Tribune its famously wrong “Dewey Defeats
Truman” headline. Consumer prices finished the year 143.4% above their
1913 level and 40.9% above 1929’s
pre-Depression peak. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum
wage stayed at 40 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1915 to 1948: $100 is worth $239 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1948/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1915 to 1948. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1915-to-1948/