$100 in 1948 is worth $205 in 1974,
because prices increased 104.6% over that period, an average of
2.79% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$205
in 1974
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
104.6%
Average inflation rate
2.79% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$205
Price difference ($100 base)
$105
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1974
49.3
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1974
11.04%
$100 in 1948 → 1974
$205
$100 in 1974 → 1948
$48.88
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1974
Between 1948 and 1974, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 49.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 104.6%, which works out to an average of
2.79% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.49 buys in 1974: the 1948 dollar
lost 51.1% of its purchasing power over
these 26 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 1974 at the same ratio, 2.05: $1,000 becomes
$2,046, and $10,000 becomes $20,456.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1974
$1.00
$2.05
$5.00
$10.23
$10.00
$20.46
$20.00
$40.91
$50.00
$102
$100
$205
$500
$1,023
$1,000
$2,046
$5,000
$10,228
$10,000
$20,456
$100,000
$204,564
$1,000,000
$2,045,643
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1974
Between 1948 and 1974, medical care rose the most, up 194.4%, while apparel rose the least, up 63.3%, against 104.6% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1974, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
2.79%
$205
Medical care
4.24%
$294
Transportation
3.12%
$222
Food
2.92%
$211
Apparel
1.90%
$163
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 1974
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.17% a year, and slowest in the 1940s (0.00% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1948–1974 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
1960–1970
2.74%
31.1%
$161
1970–1974
6.17%
27.1%
$205
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $124 by
1961, on its way to $205 in 1974; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 11.0% in 1974, and prices fell 1.2% in 1949, the deepest deflation of the period.
In 1974, prices rose 11.0% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $205; the year's average CPI of 49.3 is the level
behind every 1974 figure on this page.
1974 was the year the postwar economy broke its old rules. Consumer prices
rose 11.0%, the fastest annual increase since 1947, as the Arab oil embargo
that ran from October 1973 to March 1974 roughly quadrupled the price of
crude oil worldwide. Gasoline, which had averaged 38.5 cents a gallon in
1973, jumped to 53.2 cents, and shortages forced many states into odd-even
rationing at the pump. Nixon’s wage and price controls, in place in some form
since 1971, expired at the end of April, removing the last brake on prices
just as the oil shock hit. Nixon himself resigned in August over Watergate,
and Gerald Ford’s response to inflation, a voluntary “Whip Inflation Now”
campaign built around lapel buttons, became a symbol of how little
conventional politics could do against the problem. Prices kept climbing even
as the economy weakened: a recession that started in November 1973 dragged
on, the Dow fell to a bear-market bottom of 577.60 in December, and
unemployment was already rising toward the 9% it would reach in 1975. The
combination of rising prices and a shrinking economy gave the decade its
name: stagflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1974: $100 is worth $205 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1974/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1974. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1974/