$100 in 1948 is worth $134 in 1966,
because prices increased 34.4% over that period, an average of
1.66% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$134
in 1966
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
34.4%
Average inflation rate
1.66% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$134
Price difference ($100 base)
$34.44
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1966
32.4
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1966
2.86%
$100 in 1948 → 1966
$134
$100 in 1966 → 1948
$74.38
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1966
Between 1948 and 1966, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 32.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 34.4%, which works out to an average of
1.66% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.74 buys in 1966: the 1948 dollar
lost 25.6% of its purchasing power over
these 18 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 1966 at the same ratio, 1.34: $1,000 becomes
$1,344, and $10,000 becomes $13,444.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1966
$1.00
$1.34
$5.00
$6.72
$10.00
$13.44
$20.00
$26.89
$50.00
$67.22
$100
$134
$500
$672
$1,000
$1,344
$5,000
$6,722
$10,000
$13,444
$100,000
$134,440
$1,000,000
$1,344,398
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1966
Between 1948 and 1966, medical care rose the most, up 82.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 15.3%, against 34.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1966, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
1.66%
$134
Medical care
3.40%
$183
Transportation
2.53%
$157
Food
1.45%
$130
Apparel
0.79%
$115
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 1966
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 1948–1966 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
1960–1966
1.52%
9.5%
$134
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $117 by
1957, on its way to $134 in 1966; 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 1966, prices rose 2.9% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $134; the year's average CPI of 32.4 is the level
behind every 1966 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 2.9% in 1966, nearly double 1965’s
1.6% as Vietnam War spending kept climbing without an offsetting tax
increase, pushing the economy closer to capacity and prices higher along
with it. Medicare coverage took effect that July 1, extending federal
health insurance to roughly 19 million Americans age 65 and older under
the program signed into law the year before. The Federal Reserve had
already moved to cool the overheating economy, raising its discount rate
the previous December over White House objections; the tightening carried
into 1966 as the first postwar credit crunch, freezing parts of the
housing and municipal bond markets even as inflation kept climbing. Congress widened
the wage floor’s reach that September 23, when the Fair Labor Standards
Amendments of 1966 set a $1.40 minimum wage effective the following
February and extended coverage to roughly 9 million more workers in
retail, hospitals, schools, and other services not previously covered.
Consumer prices finished 1966 227.3% above their 1913
level. First-class postage held at 5 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at
$1.25 an hour for the rest of the year.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1966: $100 is worth $134 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1966/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1966. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1966/