$100 in 1948 is worth $666 in 1997,
because prices increased 566.0% over that period, an average of
3.95% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$666
in 1997
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
566.0%
Average inflation rate
3.95% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$666
Price difference ($100 base)
$566
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 1997
160.5
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 1997
2.29%
$100 in 1948 → 1997
$666
$100 in 1997 → 1948
$15.02
What happened to prices between 1948 and 1997
Between 1948 and 1997, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 160.5.
Cumulatively, prices increased 566.0%, which works out to an average of
3.95% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.15 buys in 1997: the 1948 dollar
lost 85.0% of its purchasing power over
these 49 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 1997 at the same ratio, 6.66: $1,000 becomes
$6,660, and $10,000 becomes $66,598.
Amount in 1948
Value in 1997
$1.00
$6.66
$5.00
$33.30
$10.00
$66.60
$20.00
$133
$50.00
$333
$100
$666
$500
$3,330
$1,000
$6,660
$5,000
$33,299
$10,000
$66,598
$100,000
$665,975
$1,000,000
$6,659,751
Inflation by spending category, 1948–1997
Between 1948 and 1997, medical care rose the most, up 1529.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 212.7%, against 566.0% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 1997, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.95%
$666
Medical care
5.86%
$1,629
Transportation
4.05%
$700
Food
3.73%
$603
Apparel
2.35%
$313
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 1997
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 1948–1997 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
1990–1997
2.98%
22.8%
$666
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $173 by
1972, on its way to $666 in 1997; 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: 1997
In 1997, prices rose 2.3% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $666; the year's average CPI of 160.5 is the level
behind every 1997 figure on this page.
The median household earned about $37,000 in 1997, gas averaged $1.23 a gallon, and a new home
cost roughly $146,000. Inflation ran at 2.3% for the year, its lowest reading since the
mid-1980s, as a strong dollar and falling import prices helped keep costs in check at home even
as trouble built abroad. In July, Thailand devalued the baht, and the currency collapse that
followed spread within months to Indonesia, South Korea, and other Southeast Asian economies,
forcing IMF bailouts and years of recession across the region, though the crisis had little
immediate effect on U.S. prices. At home, Washington had a calmer year: in August, President
Clinton and Congress agreed on the Balanced Budget Act and the Taxpayer Relief Act, which cut
capital gains tax rates, created the Roth IRA, and set the federal budget on a path to its first
surplus in nearly three decades. In September, the federal minimum wage completed a two-step
rise to $5.15 an hour, where it would stay for a decade. Low inflation, a firming budget picture,
and a crisis unfolding an ocean away made 1997 a year the U.S. economy looked stronger than much
of the rest of the world’s.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 1997: $100 is worth $666 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1997/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 1997. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-1997/