$100 in 1948 is worth $582 in 1992,
because prices increased 482.2% over that period, an average of
4.08% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$582
in 1992
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
482.2%
Average inflation rate
4.08% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$582
Price difference ($100 base)
$482
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1992
140.3
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1992
3.01%
$100 in 1948 → 1992
$582
$100 in 1992 → 1948
$17.18
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1992
Between 1948 and 1992, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 140.3.
Cumulatively, prices increased 482.2%, which works out to an average of
4.08% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.17 buys in 1992: the 1948 dollar
lost 82.8% of its purchasing power over
these 44 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 1992 at the same ratio, 5.82: $1,000 becomes
$5,822, and $10,000 becomes $58,216.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1992
$1.00
$5.82
$5.00
$29.11
$10.00
$58.22
$20.00
$116
$50.00
$291
$100
$582
$500
$2,911
$1,000
$5,822
$5,000
$29,108
$10,000
$58,216
$100,000
$582,158
$1,000,000
$5,821,577
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1992
Between 1948 and 1992, medical care rose the most, up 1220.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 210.4%, against 482.2% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1992, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
4.08%
$582
Medical care
6.04%
$1,320
Transportation
4.21%
$614
Food
3.86%
$528
Apparel
2.61%
$310
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 1992
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 1948–1992 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
1990–1992
3.61%
7.3%
$582
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $161 by
1970, on its way to $582 in 1992; 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: 1992
In 1992, prices rose 3.0% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $582; the year's average CPI of 140.3 is the level
behind every 1992 figure on this page.
1992 was the year the recovery finally showed up in the numbers, if not yet in hiring. The
median household earned about $30,600, gas averaged $1.13 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly
$121,500. Inflation ran at 3.0% for the year, its calmest reading since the mid-1980s, as energy
prices stayed well below their 1990 peak and a slack labor market kept a lid on wages and prices
alike. The Federal Reserve kept cutting its policy rate through the year, reaching about 3% by
September, the lowest in decades, trying to jump-start hiring more than a year after the 1990-91
recession officially ended. The sluggish job market became the defining issue of the November
election, and Bill Clinton unseated incumbent George H.W. Bush, whose approval ratings had
fallen sharply from their post-Gulf War highs. In August, Hurricane Andrew tore through South
Florida, the costliest U.S. hurricane on record at the time, causing tens of billions of dollars
in damage and reshaping how insurers priced catastrophe risk for years afterward. Falling rates,
a costly hurricane, and an election fought over jobs defined a recovery that showed up in the
data well before it showed up in most paychecks.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1992: $100 is worth $582 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1992/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1992. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1992/