$100 in 1946 is worth $1,195 in 2013,
because prices increased 1094.7% over that period, an average of
3.77% a year.
$100 in 1946 has
the same buying power as
$1,195
in 2013
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
1094.7%
Average inflation rate
3.77% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$1,195
Price difference ($100 base)
$1,095
CPI in 1946
19.5
CPI in 2013
232.957
Inflation in 1946
8.33%
Inflation in 2013
1.46%
$100 in 1946 → 2013
$1,195
$100 in 2013 → 1946
$8.37
What happened to prices between 1946 and 2013
Between 1946 and 2013, the Consumer Price Index went from 19.5 to 232.957.
Cumulatively, prices increased 1094.7%, which works out to an average of
3.77% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1946 bought what
$0.08 buys in 2013: the 1946 dollar
lost 91.6% of its purchasing power over
these 67 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 2013 at the same ratio, 11.95: $1,000 becomes
$11,947, and $10,000 becomes $119,465.
Amount in 1946
Value in 2013
$1.00
$11.95
$5.00
$59.73
$10.00
$119
$20.00
$239
$50.00
$597
$100
$1,195
$500
$5,973
$1,000
$11,947
$5,000
$59,733
$10,000
$119,465
$100,000
$1,194,651
$1,000,000
$11,946,513
Inflation by spending category, 1946–2013
Between 1946 and 2013, medical care rose the most, up 3301.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 270.4%, against 1094.7% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1946
spending costs in 2013, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1946 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.77%
$1,195
Medical care
5.40%
$3,401
Transportation
3.90%
$1,302
Food
3.77%
$1,197
Apparel
1.97%
$370
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–).
Decade by decade: 1946 to 2013
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1950s (2.08% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1946–2013 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1946, at end
1946–1950
5.44%
23.6%
$124
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$152
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$199
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$423
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$670
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$883
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$1,118
2010–2013
2.23%
6.8%
$1,195
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1946
$100 from 1946 had already become $466 by
1981, on its way to $1,195 in 2013; 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.
Long periods are sampled every 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2013
In 2013, prices rose 1.5% and $100 from 1946 had the buying
power of $1,195; the year's average CPI of 232.957 is the level
behind every 2013 figure on this page.
2013 was a low-inflation year with a lot of noise around the Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices rose 1.5%, below the Fed’s 2% target, and gasoline eased to an
average of $3.51 a gallon. Housing was the exception: the median new home sold
for about $268,900, up sharply from $245,200 in 2012, as the market recovered
from its post-crisis bottom.
The Fed dominated the news. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s May comments about slowing
bond purchases pushed long-term interest rates up by roughly a percentage
point that summer, and mortgages became more expensive within weeks. In
December the Fed finally announced a first small cut to its purchases while
promising to keep short-term rates near zero for a long time.
Washington added its own disruption. A 16-day government shutdown in October
delayed data releases and left a hole in that month’s CPI collection. Median
household income was reported at $53,585, the federal minimum wage stayed at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp cost 46 cents. The decade’s pattern was taking
shape: slow price growth, ultra-low interest rates, and a labor market that
improved gradually.
MLA: “Inflation from 1946 to 2013: $100 is worth $1,195 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1946-to-2013/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1946 to 2013. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1946-to-2013/