$100 in 1948 is worth $251 in 1977,
because prices increased 151.5% over that period, an average of
3.23% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$251
in 1977
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
151.5%
Average inflation rate
3.23% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$251
Price difference ($100 base)
$151
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1977
60.6
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1977
6.50%
$100 in 1948 → 1977
$251
$100 in 1977 → 1948
$39.77
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1977
Between 1948 and 1977, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 60.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 151.5%, which works out to an average of
3.23% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.40 buys in 1977: the 1948 dollar
lost 60.2% of its purchasing power over
these 29 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 1977 at the same ratio, 2.51: $1,000 becomes
$2,515, and $10,000 becomes $25,145.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1977
$1.00
$2.51
$5.00
$12.57
$10.00
$25.15
$20.00
$50.29
$50.00
$126
$100
$251
$500
$1,257
$1,000
$2,515
$5,000
$12,573
$10,000
$25,145
$100,000
$251,452
$1,000,000
$2,514,523
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1977
Between 1948 and 1977, medical care rose the most, up 295.8%, while apparel rose the least, up 84.9%, against 151.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1977, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.23%
$251
Medical care
4.86%
$396
Transportation
3.70%
$286
Food
3.22%
$251
Apparel
2.14%
$185
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 1977
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 6.58% a year, and slowest in the 1940s (0.00% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1948–1977 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
1970–1977
6.58%
56.2%
$251
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $125 by
1962, on its way to $251 in 1977; 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 1977, prices rose 6.5% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $251; the year's average CPI of 60.6 is the level
behind every 1977 figure on this page.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in 1977, ticking back up from 1976’s
5.8% as the economic recovery strengthened, wages climbed, and energy costs
pushed higher again. The year opened with a warning about that energy
dependence: record cold across the Midwest and Northeast in January and
February strained natural gas supplies so badly that schools and factories in
several states shut down for days to conserve fuel. Jimmy Carter, inaugurated
that January, made energy policy a centerpiece of his presidency, and
Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Energy that August to
consolidate programs built up piecemeal since the 1973 oil embargo. Culture
offered some relief from the anxiety: released that May, Star Wars became the
highest-grossing film in history to that point, drawing lines around theater
blocks for months. The year also closed an era in a different way. Elvis
Presley was found dead at his Graceland home on August 16 at age 42, drawing
tens of thousands of mourners to Memphis. A median household earned $13,572
in 1977, a new home sold for a median $48,800, and gas averaged 62 cents a
gallon. Consumer prices stood 512.1% above their 1913 level,
with the energy anxieties of the year setting up the harder shocks of 1978
and 1979.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1977: $100 is worth $251 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1977/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1977. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1977/