$100 in 1948 is worth $455 in 1986,
because prices increased 354.8% over that period, an average of
4.07% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$455
in 1986
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
354.8%
Average inflation rate
4.07% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$455
Price difference ($100 base)
$355
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1986
109.6
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1986
1.86%
$100 in 1948 → 1986
$455
$100 in 1986 → 1948
$21.99
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1986
Between 1948 and 1986, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 109.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 354.8%, which works out to an average of
4.07% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.22 buys in 1986: the 1948 dollar
lost 78.0% of its purchasing power over
these 38 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 1986 at the same ratio, 4.55: $1,000 becomes
$4,548, and $10,000 becomes $45,477.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1986
$1.00
$4.55
$5.00
$22.74
$10.00
$45.48
$20.00
$90.95
$50.00
$227
$100
$455
$500
$2,274
$1,000
$4,548
$5,000
$22,739
$10,000
$45,477
$100,000
$454,772
$1,000,000
$4,547,718
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1986
Between 1948 and 1986, medical care rose the most, up 747.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 149.2%, against 354.8% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1986, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.07%
$455
Medical care
5.78%
$847
Transportation
4.31%
$497
Food
3.83%
$418
Apparel
2.43%
$249
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 1986
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 1948–1986 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
1980–1986
4.87%
33.0%
$455
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $134 by
1966, on its way to $455 in 1986; 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: 1986
In 1986, prices rose 1.9% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $455; the year's average CPI of 109.6 is the level
behind every 1986 figure on this page.
1986 delivered the decade’s biggest one-year drop in inflation, and it came
almost entirely from a single source: oil. Saudi Arabia abandoned its policy
of restraining output to prop up prices, and world crude collapsed from
about $27 a barrel to under $10 by midyear. Gasoline, which had averaged
$1.12 a gallon in 1985, fell to 86 cents. With energy costs plunging,
headline CPI inflation for the year came in at just 1.9%, the lowest annual
rate since 1965 and a striking bookend to 1980’s 13.5% peak. The relief was
uneven: prices for most goods and services outside energy kept rising at a
moderate pace, so households that didn’t drive much or heat with oil felt
less of the difference. In October, Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of
1986, a bipartisan overhaul that cut the top individual income tax rate from
50% to 28% while closing many deductions and shelters, the broadest rewrite
of the federal tax code since World War II. Between cheap gas and falling
interest rates, 1986 read like proof that the inflationary 1970s were a
closed chapter, six years after the U.S. economy had felt anything but
calm.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1986: $100 is worth $455 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1986/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1986. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1986/