$100 in 1948 is worth $112 in 1954,
because prices increased 11.6% over that period, an average of
1.85% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$112
in 1954
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
11.6%
Average inflation rate
1.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$112
Price difference ($100 base)
$11.62
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1954
26.9
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1954
0.75%
$100 in 1948 → 1954
$112
$100 in 1954 → 1948
$89.59
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1954
Between 1948 and 1954, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 26.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 11.6%, which works out to an average of
1.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.90 buys in 1954: the 1948 dollar
lost 10.4% of its purchasing power over
these 6 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 1954 at the same ratio, 1.12: $1,000 becomes
$1,116, and $10,000 becomes $11,162.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1954
$1.00
$1.12
$5.00
$5.58
$10.00
$11.16
$20.00
$22.32
$50.00
$55.81
$100
$112
$500
$558
$1,000
$1,116
$5,000
$5,581
$10,000
$11,162
$100,000
$111,618
$1,000,000
$1,116,183
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1954
Between 1948 and 1954, transportation rose the most, up 26.7%, while apparel rose the least, up 1.4%, against 11.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1954, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.85%
$112
Transportation
4.02%
$127
Medical care
3.60%
$124
Food
1.30%
$108
Apparel
0.23%
$101
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–).
Decade by decade: 1948 to 1954
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 2.79% a year, and slowest in the 1940s (0.00% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1948–1954 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1948, at end
1948–1950
0.00%
0.0%
$100
1950–1954
2.79%
11.6%
$112
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $108 by
1951, on its way to $112 in 1954; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 7.9% in 1951, and prices fell 1.2% in 1949, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1954, prices rose 0.7% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $112; the year's average CPI of 26.9 is the level
behind every 1954 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 0.7% in 1954, extending 1953’s 0.8%
slowdown even as the economy tipped into recession, an early example of
prices continuing to rise through a downturn rather than falling with it.
The National Bureau of Economic Research dates that recession from July
1953 to May 1954, as defense spending fell after the Korean War armistice
and the tighter monetary policy of the year before worked its way through
the economy. The Supreme Court reshaped a different part of American life
that spring: its unanimous May 17 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education
held that “separate but equal” public schools violated the Constitution,
overturning the legal basis for segregated education. Washington also
closed the book on a different fight that year. Following the televised
Army-McCarthy hearings that spring, the Senate voted 67 to 22 on December
2 to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy’s conduct, ending his dominance of
American politics after four years of anti-communist investigations.
Consumer prices finished 1954 171.7% above their 1913
level, essentially flat with 1953 as the mild recession
held the cost of living in check. First-class postage held at 3 cents,
and the minimum wage stayed at 75 cents an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1954: $100 is worth $112 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1954/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1954. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1954/