$100 in 1948 is worth $342 in 1980,
because prices increased 241.9% over that period, an average of
3.92% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$342
in 1980
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
241.9%
Average inflation rate
3.92% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$342
Price difference ($100 base)
$242
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1980
82.4
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1980
13.50%
$100 in 1948 → 1980
$342
$100 in 1980 → 1948
$29.25
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1980
Between 1948 and 1980, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 82.4.
Cumulatively, prices increased 241.9%, which works out to an average of
3.92% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.29 buys in 1980: the 1948 dollar
lost 70.8% of its purchasing power over
these 32 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 1980 at the same ratio, 3.42: $1,000 becomes
$3,419, and $10,000 becomes $34,191.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1980
$1.00
$3.42
$5.00
$17.10
$10.00
$34.19
$20.00
$68.38
$50.00
$171
$100
$342
$500
$1,710
$1,000
$3,419
$5,000
$17,095
$10,000
$34,191
$100,000
$341,909
$1,000,000
$3,419,087
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1980
Between 1948 and 1980, medical care rose the most, up 420.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 113.9%, against 241.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1980, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.92%
$342
Medical care
5.29%
$520
Transportation
4.45%
$403
Food
3.83%
$333
Apparel
2.40%
$214
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 1980
Prices climbed fastest in the 1970s, averaging 7.82% a year, and slowest in the 1940s (0.00% a year). Each step below chains into the full 1948–1980 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
1970–1980
7.82%
112.4%
$342
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $129 by
1964, on its way to $342 in 1980; each row shows the CPI, that
year's inflation rate, and the running value.
Within the span, inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and prices fell 1.2% in 1949, the deepest deflation of the period.
Long periods are sampled every 2 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 1980
In 1980, prices rose 13.5% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $342; the year's average CPI of 82.4 is the level
behind every 1980 figure on this page.
1980 sat at the very peak of the Great Inflation. Prices rose 13.5% in that
single year, mortgage rates were climbing toward 16%, and the Federal Reserve
under Paul Volcker was administering the painful interest-rate medicine that
would finally break the inflationary spiral, at the cost of the deep 1981–82
recession. No single year looms larger in how Americans think about inflation.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1980: $100 is worth $342 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1980/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1980. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1980/