$100 in 1948 is worth $236 in 1976,
because prices increased 136.1% over that period, an average of
3.12% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$236
in 1976
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
136.1%
Average inflation rate
3.12% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$236
Price difference ($100 base)
$136
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1976
56.9
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1976
5.76%
$100 in 1948 → 1976
$236
$100 in 1976 → 1948
$42.36
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1976
Between 1948 and 1976, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 56.9.
Cumulatively, prices increased 136.1%, which works out to an average of
3.12% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.42 buys in 1976: the 1948 dollar
lost 57.6% of its purchasing power over
these 28 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 1976 at the same ratio, 2.36: $1,000 becomes
$2,361, and $10,000 becomes $23,610.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1976
$1.00
$2.36
$5.00
$11.80
$10.00
$23.61
$20.00
$47.22
$50.00
$118
$100
$236
$500
$1,180
$1,000
$2,361
$5,000
$11,805
$10,000
$23,610
$100,000
$236,100
$1,000,000
$2,360,996
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1976
Between 1948 and 1976, medical care rose the most, up 261.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 76.9%, against 136.1% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1976, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.12%
$236
Medical care
4.69%
$361
Transportation
3.58%
$267
Food
3.11%
$236
Apparel
2.06%
$177
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 1976
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.59% a year, and slowest in the 1940s (0.00% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1948–1976 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
1970–1976
6.59%
46.6%
$236
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $125 by
1962, on its way to $236 in 1976; 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 1976, prices rose 5.8% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $236; the year's average CPI of 56.9 is the level
behind every 1976 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 5.8% in 1976, the calmest pace since 1972,
as the economy pulled out of the 1973-75 recession and price growth settled
to roughly half its 1974 peak. The recovery gave Americans
room to celebrate: tall ships filled New York Harbor and fireworks lit cities
nationwide on July 4 for the country’s bicentennial, a rare moment of shared
celebration after Vietnam and Watergate. Politically, Jimmy Carter, a former
Georgia governor running as a Washington outsider, defeated incumbent Gerald
Ford that November, campaigning on restoring trust in government and bringing
down inflation and unemployment together. In a California garage, Steve
Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer that April to
sell the Apple I, a bare circuit board aimed at electronics hobbyists, a
business that looked far from consequential at the time. First-class
postage, which had risen to 13 cents that past December 31, held there
through the year, the longest stretch without a rate change since the Postal
Service’s creation. A median household earned $12,686 in 1976, a new home
sold for a median $44,200, and gas averaged 59 cents a gallon. Consumer
prices stood 474.7% above their 1913 level, a calm interlude
before inflation turned back up.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1976: $100 is worth $236 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1976/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1976. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1976/