$100 in 1926 is worth $136 in 1948,
because prices increased 36.2% over that period, an average of
1.41% a year.
$100 in 1926 has
the same buying power as
$136
in 1948
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
36.2%
Average inflation rate
1.41% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$136
Price difference ($100 base)
$36.16
CPI in 1926
17.7
CPI in 1948
24.1
Inflation in 1926
1.14%
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
$100 in 1926 → 1948
$136
$100 in 1948 → 1926
$73.44
What happened to prices between 1926 and 1948
Between 1926 and 1948, the Consumer Price Index went from 17.7 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 36.2%, which works out to an average of
1.41% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1926 bought what
$0.73 buys in 1948: the 1926 dollar
lost 26.6% of its purchasing power over
these 22 years.
Consumer prices rose 1.1% in 1926, a third straight year of mild inflation
and part of the price stability that defined the middle of the decade.
Florida’s real estate boom, which had peaked the previous year on
speculative buying of undeveloped land, ended abruptly that September when
the Great Miami Hurricane made landfall near the city, killing hundreds and
wrecking the market for land whose value had rested on continued
speculation rather than anything underneath it. In Detroit, Henry Ford moved
his company to a five-day, 40-hour work week without cutting pay, a break
from the standard six-day schedule that other large employers would
gradually adopt over the following decades; Ford argued publicly that
workers with more leisure time would also become better customers for the
cars his factories built. Consumer prices remained low enough by historical
standards that a first-class stamp still cost just 2 cents, the same price
it had held since mid-1919.
Every 1926 amount converts to 1948 at the same ratio, 1.36: $1,000 becomes
$1,362, and $10,000 becomes $13,616.
Amount in 1926
Value in 1948
$1.00
$1.36
$5.00
$6.81
$10.00
$13.62
$20.00
$27.23
$50.00
$68.08
$100
$136
$500
$681
$1,000
$1,362
$5,000
$6,808
$10,000
$13,616
$100,000
$136,158
$1,000,000
$1,361,582
Inflation by spending category, 1926–1948
Between 1926 and 1948, apparel rose the most, up 64.1%, while food rose the least, up 53.5%, against 36.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1926
spending costs in 1948, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1926 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.41%
$136
Apparel
2.28%
$164
Food
1.97%
$154
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1926: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), medical care (1935–), transportation (1935–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Decade by decade: 1926 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 1926–1948 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1926, at end
1926–1930
-1.44%
-5.6%
$94.35
1930–1940
-1.75%
-16.2%
$79.10
1940–1948
7.03%
72.1%
$136
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1926
$100 from 1926 had already become $81.36 by
1937, on its way to $136 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 1926 had the buying
power of $136; 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 1926 to 1948: $100 is worth $136 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1948/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1926 to 1948. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1926-to-1948/