$100 in 1948 is worth $715 in 2000,
because prices increased 614.5% over that period, an average of
3.85% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$715
in 2000
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
614.5%
Average inflation rate
3.85% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$715
Price difference ($100 base)
$615
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 2000
172.2
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 2000
3.36%
$100 in 1948 → 2000
$715
$100 in 2000 → 1948
$14.00
What happened to prices between 1948 and 2000
Between 1948 and 2000, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 172.2.
Cumulatively, prices increased 614.5%, which works out to an average of
3.85% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.14 buys in 2000: the 1948 dollar
lost 86.0% of its purchasing power over
these 52 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 2000 at the same ratio, 7.15: $1,000 becomes
$7,145, and $10,000 becomes $71,452.
Amount in 1948
Value in 2000
$1.00
$7.15
$5.00
$35.73
$10.00
$71.45
$20.00
$143
$50.00
$357
$100
$715
$500
$3,573
$1,000
$7,145
$5,000
$35,726
$10,000
$71,452
$100,000
$714,523
$1,000,000
$7,145,228
Inflation by spending category, 1948–2000
Between 1948 and 2000, medical care rose the most, up 1711.1%, while apparel rose the least, up 204.9%, against 614.5% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 2000, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.85%
$715
Medical care
5.73%
$1,811
Transportation
3.94%
$744
Food
3.64%
$643
Apparel
2.17%
$305
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 2000
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 1948–2000 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
1990–2000
2.80%
31.8%
$715
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $205 by
1974, on its way to $715 in 2000; 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: 2000
In 2000, prices rose 3.4% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $715; the year's average CPI of 172.2 is the level
behind every 2000 figure on this page.
Inflation ran at 3.4% in 2000, the highest annual rate since 1991, as an economy growing
above 4% and a rise in oil prices pushed the CPI up. The median household earned about
$42,100, gas averaged $1.51 a gallon, and a new home cost roughly $169,000. The Federal
Reserve had raised interest rates six times since mid-1999 and stopped at 6.5% in May. By
then the stock market had already turned: the Nasdaq hit its record of 5,048 on March 10 and
lost about 39% of its value by December. Consumer prices did not reflect the slowdown yet,
which is why the Fed held rates high through the year even as technology companies began to
fail. In October, Congress granted China permanent normal trade relations, a decision that
would help hold down the price of manufactured goods for years. A first-class stamp cost 33
cents and the federal minimum wage was $5.15. The recession of 2001 brought inflation back
down.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 2000: $100 is worth $715 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-2000/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 2000. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-2000/