$100 in 1948 is worth $446 in 1985,
because prices increased 346.5% over that period, an average of
4.13% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$446
in 1985
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
346.5%
Average inflation rate
4.13% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$446
Price difference ($100 base)
$346
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1985
107.6
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1985
3.56%
$100 in 1948 → 1985
$446
$100 in 1985 → 1948
$22.40
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1985
Between 1948 and 1985, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 107.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 346.5%, which works out to an average of
4.13% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1985: the 1948 dollar
lost 77.6% of its purchasing power over
these 37 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 1985 at the same ratio, 4.46: $1,000 becomes
$4,465, and $10,000 becomes $44,647.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1985
$1.00
$4.46
$5.00
$22.32
$10.00
$44.65
$20.00
$89.29
$50.00
$223
$100
$446
$500
$2,232
$1,000
$4,465
$5,000
$22,324
$10,000
$44,647
$100,000
$446,473
$1,000,000
$4,464,730
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1985
Between 1948 and 1985, medical care rose the most, up 688.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 147.1%, against 346.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1985, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.13%
$446
Medical care
5.74%
$788
Transportation
4.54%
$517
Food
3.85%
$405
Apparel
2.47%
$247
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 1985
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 1948–1985 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
1980–1985
5.48%
30.6%
$446
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $134 by
1966, on its way to $446 in 1985; 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: 1985
In 1985, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $446; the year's average CPI of 107.6 is the level
behind every 1985 figure on this page.
By 1985, low inflation had become the norm rather than the exception.
Consumer prices rose 3.6% for the year, the fourth straight year in the
3-6% range following the double-digit spikes of 1980 and 1981, proof that
the disinflation had held rather than merely paused, as it had after
previous recessions. Overseas, the dollar had become a problem of its own:
years of high U.S. interest rates had pulled in foreign capital and pushed
the dollar’s value up so far that American exporters were losing business
abroad, widening the trade deficit. In September, the finance ministers of
the U.S., Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom met at New
York’s Plaza Hotel and agreed to coordinate a managed decline of the
dollar; it fell roughly 25% against major currencies over the following two
years. At home, Congress responded to a federal deficit that had roughly
tripled since 1980 by passing the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act in December,
setting binding targets to shrink the deficit with automatic
across-the-board cuts if lawmakers missed them. Households felt the calmer
economy in small ways: first-class postage rose to 22 cents in February,
its first increase since November 1981, after nearly four years at 20
cents.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1985: $100 is worth $446 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1985/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1985. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1985/