$100 in 1948 is worth $893 in 2008,
because prices increased 793.4% over that period, an average of
3.72% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$893
in 2008
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
793.4%
Average inflation rate
3.72% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$893
Price difference ($100 base)
$793
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 2008
215.303
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 2008
3.84%
$100 in 1948 → 2008
$893
$100 in 2008 → 1948
$11.19
What happened to prices between 1948 and 2008
Between 1948 and 2008, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 215.303.
Cumulatively, prices increased 793.4%, which works out to an average of
3.72% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.11 buys in 2008: the 1948 dollar
lost 88.8% of its purchasing power over
these 60 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 2008 at the same ratio, 8.93: $1,000 becomes
$8,934, and $10,000 becomes $89,337.
Amount in 1948
Value in 2008
$1.00
$8.93
$5.00
$44.67
$10.00
$89.34
$20.00
$179
$50.00
$447
$100
$893
$500
$4,467
$1,000
$8,934
$5,000
$44,669
$10,000
$89,337
$100,000
$893,373
$1,000,000
$8,933,734
Inflation by spending category, 1948–2008
Between 1948 and 2008, medical care rose the most, up 2428.2%, while apparel rose the least, up 179.8%, against 793.4% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 2008, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.72%
$893
Medical care
5.53%
$2,528
Transportation
3.82%
$949
Food
3.57%
$820
Apparel
1.73%
$280
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 2008
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 1948–2008 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
2000–2008
2.83%
25.0%
$893
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $271 by
1978, on its way to $893 in 2008; 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: 2008
In 2008, prices rose 3.8% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $893; the year's average CPI of 215.303 is the level
behind every 2008 figure on this page.
Inflation averaged 3.8% in 2008, but that figure hides a swing. The 12-month rate reached 5.6% in
July, when oil hit $147 a barrel and gasoline passed $4 a gallon, then fell to 0.1% by December
as crude dropped near $40. For the year, gas averaged $3.27, the highest yet. The financial
system broke in the fall: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, Congress
created the $700 billion TARP bank rescue on October 3, and the Federal Reserve cut its policy
rate to a range of 0–0.25% in December. The median household earned about $50,300, barely
above 2007, and the median new home price fell to $232,100. The minimum wage rose to $6.55 in
July, and a first-class stamp cost 42 cents. The price collapse at the end of 2008 set up the
deflation of 2009.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 2008: $100 is worth $893 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-2008/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 2008. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-2008/