$100 in 1922 is worth $143 in 1948,
because prices increased 43.5% over that period, an average of
1.40% a year.
$100 in 1922 has
the same buying power as
$143
in 1948
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
43.5%
Average inflation rate
1.40% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$143
Price difference ($100 base)
$43.45
CPI in 1922
16.8
CPI in 1948
24.1
Inflation in 1922
-6.15%
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
$100 in 1922 → 1948
$143
$100 in 1948 → 1922
$69.71
What happened to prices between 1922 and 1948
Between 1922 and 1948, the Consumer Price Index went from 16.8 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 43.5%, which works out to an average of
1.40% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1922 bought what
$0.70 buys in 1948: the 1922 dollar
lost 30.3% of its purchasing power over
these 26 years.
Consumer prices fell another 6.1% in 1922, the second straight year of
decline, even as the broader economy climbed out of the Depression of
1920-21 and industrial production rebounded. The CPI had now given back
roughly a third of its wartime runup, though it stayed well above the
1913 baseline. Congress moved to shield that recovery from
foreign competition: the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act, signed September 21,
raised duties on hundreds of imported goods to some of the highest levels in
U.S. history, a policy meant to protect farmers and manufacturers still
adjusting to postwar prices. Labor tension flared even as prices fell.
Roughly half a million bituminous coal miners struck that April over wage
cuts employers had imposed as prices dropped, and hundreds of thousands of
railroad shop workers walked out in July in a separate dispute over pay and
work rules, together the largest strike wave since 1919. Both disputes
dragged on for months and drew federal mediation before ending without full
concessions for the workers. First-class postage remained at 2 cents.
Every 1922 amount converts to 1948 at the same ratio, 1.43: $1,000 becomes
$1,435, and $10,000 becomes $14,345.
Amount in 1922
Value in 1948
$1.00
$1.43
$5.00
$7.17
$10.00
$14.35
$20.00
$28.69
$50.00
$71.73
$100
$143
$500
$717
$1,000
$1,435
$5,000
$7,173
$10,000
$14,345
$100,000
$143,452
$1,000,000
$1,434,524
Inflation by spending category, 1922–1948
Between 1922 and 1948, food rose the most, up 75.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 57.4%, against 43.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1922
spending costs in 1948, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1922 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.40%
$143
Food
2.18%
$175
Apparel
1.76%
$157
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1922: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1922 to 1948
Prices climbed fastest in the 1940s, averaging 7.03% a year, and fell in the 1930s (1.7% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1922–1948 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1922, at end
1922–1930
-0.07%
-0.6%
$99.40
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$83.33
1940–1948
7.03%
72.1%
$143
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1922
$100 from 1922 had already become $81.55 by
1935, on its way to $143 in 1948; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 14.4% in 1947, and prices fell 9.9% in 1932, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1948, prices rose 8.1% and $100 from 1922 had the buying
power of $143; 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 1922 to 1948: $100 is worth $143 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1948/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1922 to 1948. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1922-to-1948/