$100 in 1948 is worth $471 in 1987,
because prices increased 371.4% over that period, an average of
4.06% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$471
in 1987
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
371.4%
Average inflation rate
4.06% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$471
Price difference ($100 base)
$371
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1987
113.6
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1987
3.65%
$100 in 1948 → 1987
$471
$100 in 1987 → 1948
$21.21
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1987
Between 1948 and 1987, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 113.6.
Cumulatively, prices increased 371.4%, which works out to an average of
4.06% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.21 buys in 1987: the 1948 dollar
lost 78.8% of its purchasing power over
these 39 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 1987 at the same ratio, 4.71: $1,000 becomes
$4,714, and $10,000 becomes $47,137.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1987
$1.00
$4.71
$5.00
$23.57
$10.00
$47.14
$20.00
$94.27
$50.00
$236
$100
$471
$500
$2,357
$1,000
$4,714
$5,000
$23,568
$10,000
$47,137
$100,000
$471,369
$1,000,000
$4,713,693
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1987
Between 1948 and 1987, medical care rose the most, up 803.5%, while apparel rose the least, up 160.2%, against 371.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1987, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.06%
$471
Medical care
5.81%
$903
Transportation
4.27%
$512
Food
3.84%
$435
Apparel
2.48%
$260
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 1987
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 1948–1987 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
1980–1987
4.69%
37.9%
$471
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $144 by
1968, on its way to $471 in 1987; 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: 1987
In 1987, prices rose 3.6% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $471; the year's average CPI of 113.6 is the level
behind every 1987 figure on this page.
1987 tested whether the disinflation of the 1980s could survive its first
real shock. Paul Volcker, who had run the Federal Reserve since 1979 and
driven inflation down from 13.5% to routine mid-single digits, handed the
chairmanship to Alan Greenspan in August. Inflation for the year came in at
3.6%, edging up as the expansion entered its fifth year and a weaker
dollar, following 1985’s Plaza Accord, pushed up the price of imported
goods. Then, on October 19, the stock market delivered Greenspan’s first
crisis: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6% in a single session,
still the largest one-day percentage drop in its history, as computer-driven
“portfolio insurance” trading amplified a global sell-off that had started
days earlier. The Fed responded within 24 hours, publicly pledging to
supply whatever liquidity the banking system needed, and the panic did not
spread to the broader economy. Growth continued and unemployment kept
falling through the rest of the year. It was an early demonstration of what
became known as the “Greenspan put,” a Fed willing to move fast and loosen
policy to contain financial shocks even while still watching inflation,
that shaped central banking for the next two decades.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1987: $100 is worth $471 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1987/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1987. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1987/