$100 in 1948 is worth $542 in 1990,
because prices increased 442.3% over that period, an average of
4.11% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$542
in 1990
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
442.3%
Average inflation rate
4.11% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$542
Price difference ($100 base)
$442
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1990
130.7
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1990
5.40%
$100 in 1948 → 1990
$542
$100 in 1990 → 1948
$18.44
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1990
Between 1948 and 1990, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 130.7.
Cumulatively, prices increased 442.3%, which works out to an average of
4.11% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.18 buys in 1990: the 1948 dollar
lost 81.6% of its purchasing power over
these 42 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 1990 at the same ratio, 5.42: $1,000 becomes
$5,423, and $10,000 becomes $54,232.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1990
$1.00
$5.42
$5.00
$27.12
$10.00
$54.23
$20.00
$108
$50.00
$271
$100
$542
$500
$2,712
$1,000
$5,423
$5,000
$27,116
$10,000
$54,232
$100,000
$542,324
$1,000,000
$5,423,237
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1990
Between 1948 and 1990, medical care rose the most, up 1030.6%, while apparel rose the least, up 192.0%, against 442.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1990, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.11%
$542
Medical care
5.94%
$1,131
Transportation
4.30%
$585
Food
3.94%
$507
Apparel
2.58%
$292
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 1990
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 1948–1990 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
1980–1990
4.72%
58.6%
$542
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $144 by
1968, on its way to $542 in 1990; 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: 1990
In 1990, prices rose 5.4% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $542; the year's average CPI of 130.7 is the level
behind every 1990 figure on this page.
In 1990, the median U.S. household earned about $29,900, gas averaged $1.15 a
gallon, and mailing a letter cost a quarter. Inflation ran hot at 5.4% for the
year, its highest rate since 1982, pushed up by an oil shock after Iraq’s
invasion of Kuwait, and the economy tipped into recession that summer. It was
the last gasp of elevated inflation before the long calm of the 1990s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1990: $100 is worth $542 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1990/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1990. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1990/