$100 in 1946 is worth $124 in 1950,
because prices increased 23.6% over that period, an average of
5.44% a year.
$100 in 1946 has
the same buying power as
$124
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
23.6%
Average inflation rate
5.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$124
Price difference ($100 base)
$23.59
CPI in 1946
19.5
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1946
8.33%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1946 → 1950
$124
$100 in 1950 → 1946
$80.91
What happened to prices between 1946 and 1950
Between 1946 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 19.5 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 23.6%, which works out to an average of
5.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1946 bought what
$0.81 buys in 1950: the 1946 dollar
lost 19.1% of its purchasing power over
these 4 years.
Consumer prices rose 8.3% in 1946, up sharply from 1945’s
2.3% and the sharpest increase since 1942, as wartime price controls
finally came apart. Congress let the Office of Price Administration’s
authority lapse at the end of June, reinstated a weaker version soon after,
then wound the whole system down through the rest of the year, releasing
years of pent-up demand into the price level almost at once. Meat was the
clearest casualty of the fight over decontrol: farmers withheld livestock
rather than sell at capped prices, producing severe shortages that spring
and summer until ceilings on meat were lifted that October, after which
supplies reappeared almost overnight. Labor cashed in its own wartime
restraint the same year. An estimated 4.6 million workers walked out at
some point in 1946, hitting steel, coal, automakers, and the railroads in
the largest strike wave in U.S. history, as unions pushed for wage gains to
offset cost-of-living increases controls could no longer contain. Amid the
turmoil, Congress made a less visible but lasting change to economic
policy: the Employment Act of 1946, signed that February, committed the
federal government to promoting maximum employment and created the Council
of Economic Advisers. Consumer prices stood 97.0% above their
1913 level, nearly double where the index had started 33
years earlier. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage
stayed at 40 cents an hour.
Every 1946 amount converts to 1950 at the same ratio, 1.24: $1,000 becomes
$1,236, and $10,000 becomes $12,359.
Amount in 1946
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.24
$5.00
$6.18
$10.00
$12.36
$20.00
$24.72
$50.00
$61.79
$100
$124
$500
$618
$1,000
$1,236
$5,000
$6,179
$10,000
$12,359
$100,000
$123,590
$1,000,000
$1,235,897
Inflation by spending category, 1946–1950
Between 1946 and 1950, transportation rose the most, up 35.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 17.2%, against 23.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1946
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1946 →
All items (CPI-U)
5.44%
$124
Transportation
7.98%
$136
Food
6.42%
$128
Medical care
4.84%
$121
Apparel
4.04%
$117
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1946: core (all items less food & energy) (1957–), energy (1957–), housing (1967–), recreation (1993–), education & communication (1993–).
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1946
$100 from 1946 had already become $124 by
1948, on its way to $124 in 1950; 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 1.2% in 1949, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1946 had the buying
power of $124; the year's average CPI of 24.1 is the level
behind every 1950 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1950, up from 1949’s 1.2%
decline, a mild gain that hid a sharp turn partway through the year. The
cost of living had been roughly flat through the spring, then jumped after
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, setting off a wave of hoarding
and defense buying reminiscent of World War II shortages. The United
States entered the war within days under a United Nations mandate;
American and South Korean forces were pushed back to the Pusan Perimeter
that summer before a landing at Inchon that September reversed the front,
and China’s entry into the war that November turned it into a longer
stalemate. Congress moved to put the economy on a war footing that
September, passing the Defense Production Act, which gave the president
authority to direct industrial output toward the military and, if prices
kept climbing, to impose formal wage and price controls. Domestic policy
also expanded that year: the Social Security Amendments of 1950, signed
August 28, raised benefits across the board and extended coverage to
roughly 10 million more workers, the program’s first major expansion since
it began in 1935. Consumer prices finished 1950 143.4% above their
1913 level, matching 1948’s postwar high
after 1949’s brief decline. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the
minimum wage stood at 75 cents an hour after January’s increase.
MLA: “Inflation from 1946 to 1950: $100 is worth $124 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1946-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1946 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1946-to-1950/