$100 in 1948 is worth $100 in 1950,
because prices increased 0.0% over that period, an average of
0.00% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$100
in 1950
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
0.0%
Average inflation rate
0.00% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$100
Price difference ($100 base)
$0.00
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1950
24.1
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1950
1.26%
$100 in 1948 → 1950
$100
$100 in 1950 → 1948
$100
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1950
Between 1948 and 1950, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 24.1.
Cumulatively, prices increased 0.0%, which works out to an average of
0.00% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$1.00 buys in 1950: the 1948 dollar
lost 0.0% of its purchasing power over
these 2 years.
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.
Every 1948 amount converts to 1950 at the same ratio, 1.00: $1,000 becomes
$1,000, and $10,000 becomes $10,000.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1950
$1.00
$1.00
$5.00
$5.00
$10.00
$10.00
$20.00
$20.00
$50.00
$50.00
$100
$100
$500
$500
$1,000
$1,000
$5,000
$5,000
$10,000
$10,000
$100,000
$100,000
$1,000,000
$1,000,000
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1950
Between 1948 and 1950, transportation rose the most, up 10.2%, while apparel fell 5.2%, against 0.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1950, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
0.00%
$100
Transportation
4.97%
$110
Medical care
2.40%
$105
Food
-1.35%
$97.32
Apparel
-2.62%
$94.82
Not shown because the BLS began these indexes after 1948: 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 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $98.76 by
1949, on its way to $100 in 1950; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 1.3% in 1950, and prices fell 1.2% in 1949, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1950, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $100; 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 1948 to 1950: $100 is worth $100 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1950/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1950. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1950/