$100 in 1948 is worth $129 in 1964,
because prices increased 28.6% over that period, an average of
1.59% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$129
in 1964
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
28.6%
Average inflation rate
1.59% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$129
Price difference ($100 base)
$28.63
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1964
31
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1964
1.31%
$100 in 1948 → 1964
$129
$100 in 1964 → 1948
$77.74
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1964
Between 1948 and 1964, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 31.
Cumulatively, prices increased 28.6%, which works out to an average of
1.59% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.78 buys in 1964: the 1948 dollar
lost 22.3% of its purchasing power over
these 16 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 1964 at the same ratio, 1.29: $1,000 becomes
$1,286, and $10,000 becomes $12,863.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1964
$1.00
$1.29
$5.00
$6.43
$10.00
$12.86
$20.00
$25.73
$50.00
$64.32
$100
$129
$500
$643
$1,000
$1,286
$5,000
$6,432
$10,000
$12,863
$100,000
$128,631
$1,000,000
$1,286,307
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1964
Between 1948 and 1964, medical care rose the most, up 70.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 11.3%, against 28.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1964, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.59%
$129
Medical care
3.40%
$171
Transportation
2.67%
$152
Food
1.18%
$121
Apparel
0.67%
$111
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 1964
Prices climbed fastest in the 1950s, averaging 2.08% a year, and slowest in the 1940s (0.00% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1948–1964 change:
Years
Avg. yearly inflation
Price change
$100 from 1948, at end
1948–1950
0.00%
0.0%
$100
1950–1960
2.08%
22.8%
$123
1960–1964
1.16%
4.7%
$129
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $113 by
1956, on its way to $129 in 1964; 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 1964, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $129; the year's average CPI of 31 is the level
behind every 1964 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 1.3% in 1964, matching 1963’s pace
even as a large federal tax cut took effect that year. The Revenue Act of
1964, signed February 26, lowered individual and corporate tax rates
significantly, the cut Kennedy had proposed the year before his death and
Johnson pushed through Congress as a Keynesian bet that lower taxes would
spur enough growth without stoking prices. Congress reshaped civil rights
law that July 2, when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination
based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin in employment
and public accommodations, the most sweeping civil rights legislation
since Reconstruction. Vietnam policy shifted that August, when Congress
passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after reported attacks on U.S. Navy
destroyers, authorizing Johnson to use military force in Vietnam without
a formal declaration of war. American pop culture changed that February
too: the Beatles landed at New York’s Kennedy Airport and played the Ed
Sullivan Show two days later for an estimated 73 million viewers,
igniting the “British Invasion.” Consumer prices finished 1964 213.1%
above their 1913 level. First-class postage held at 5
cents, and the minimum wage stayed at $1.25 an hour.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1964: $100 is worth $129 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1964/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1964. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1964/