$100 in 1916 is worth $221 in 1948,
because prices increased 121.1% over that period, an average of
2.51% a year.
$100 in 1916 has
the same buying power as
$221
in 1948
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
121.1%
Average inflation rate
2.51% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$221
Price difference ($100 base)
$121
CPI in 1916
10.9
CPI in 1948
24.1
Inflation in 1916
7.92%
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
$100 in 1916 → 1948
$221
$100 in 1948 → 1916
$45.23
What happened to prices between 1916 and 1948
Between 1916 and 1948, the Consumer Price Index went from 10.9 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 121.1%, which works out to an average of
2.51% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1916 bought what
$0.45 buys in 1948: the 1916 dollar
lost 54.8% of its purchasing power over
these 32 years.
1916 was when World War I first showed up clearly in American price tags.
Consumer prices rose 7.9% for the year, easily the sharpest increase since
the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI history begins in 1913, as factories ran
flat out to fill steel, munitions, and food orders from Britain and France.
Railroad workers felt the squeeze from rising living costs enough to threaten
a nationwide strike; Congress headed it off in September with the Adamson
Act, which set an eight-hour standard workday for interstate rail employees,
the first federal law of its kind covering private-sector hours. Washington
was also preparing more directly for war: the National Defense Act, signed
in June, expanded the Army and National Guard and funded new
government-owned munitions plants, adding another source of demand to an
economy already running hot. Woodrow Wilson won re-election in November
largely on having kept the country out of the fighting so far, a promise
that would not survive the following spring. A first-class stamp still cost
2 cents, one of the few prices that had not yet moved.
Every 1916 amount converts to 1948 at the same ratio, 2.21: $1,000 becomes
$2,211, and $10,000 becomes $22,110.
Amount in 1916
Value in 1948
$1.00
$2.21
$5.00
$11.06
$10.00
$22.11
$20.00
$44.22
$50.00
$111
$100
$221
$500
$1,106
$1,000
$2,211
$5,000
$11,055
$10,000
$22,110
$100,000
$221,101
$1,000,000
$2,211,009
Inflation by spending category, 1916–1948
Between 1916 and 1948, apparel rose the most, up 153.0%, while food rose the least, up 131.0%, against 121.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1916
spending costs in 1948, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1916 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.51%
$221
Apparel
2.94%
$253
Food
2.65%
$231
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1916: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1916 to 1948
Prices climbed fastest in the 1910s, averaging 16.39% a year, and fell in the 1920s (1.8% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1916–1948 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1916, at end
1916–1920
16.39%
83.5%
$183
1920–1930
-1.79%
-16.5%
$153
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$128
1940–1948
7.03%
72.1%
$221
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1916
$100 from 1916 had already become $126 by
1932, on its way to $221 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 1916 had the buying
power of $221; 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 1916 to 1948: $100 is worth $221 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1948/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1916 to 1948. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1916-to-1948/