$100 in 1948 is worth $982 in 2014,
because prices increased 882.3% over that period, an average of
3.52% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$982
in 2014
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
882.3%
Average inflation rate
3.52% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$982
Price difference ($100 base)
$882
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 2014
236.736
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 2014
1.62%
$100 in 1948 → 2014
$982
$100 in 2014 → 1948
$10.18
What happened to prices between 1948 and 2014
Between 1948 and 2014, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 236.736.
Cumulatively, prices increased 882.3%, which works out to an average of
3.52% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2014: the 1948 dollar
lost 89.8% of its purchasing power over
these 66 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 2014 at the same ratio, 9.82: $1,000 becomes
$9,823, and $10,000 becomes $98,231.
Amount in 1948
Value in 2014
$1.00
$9.82
$5.00
$49.12
$10.00
$98.23
$20.00
$196
$50.00
$491
$100
$982
$500
$4,912
$1,000
$9,823
$5,000
$49,115
$10,000
$98,231
$100,000
$982,307
$1,000,000
$9,823,071
Inflation by spending category, 1948–2014
Between 1948 and 2014, medical care rose the most, up 2922.9%, while apparel rose the least, up 200.0%, against 882.3% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 2014, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.52%
$982
Medical care
5.30%
$3,023
Transportation
3.62%
$1,048
Food
3.44%
$930
Apparel
1.68%
$300
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 2014
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 1948–2014 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
2000–2010
2.39%
26.6%
$905
2010–2014
2.08%
8.6%
$982
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $413 by
1983, on its way to $982 in 2014; 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 5 years; the calculator above covers any pair of years.
The destination year: 2014
In 2014, prices rose 1.6% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $982; the year's average CPI of 236.736 is the level
behind every 2014 figure on this page.
2014 ended with the sharpest oil price drop in years. Consumer prices rose
1.6% for the year, close to 2013’s pace, but the annual figure hid a shift at
the pump: crude oil fell from above $100 a barrel in June to below $60 in
December, and gasoline finished the year near $2.25 a gallon after averaging
$3.37 across 2014. The drop reflected record U.S. shale output, softer
global demand, and OPEC’s decision in November to keep producing.
For households, cheaper fuel arrived just as the labor market strengthened.
Median household income was $53,657, essentially flat on the prior year, and
the median new home sold for about $288,500. The federal minimum wage stayed
at $7.25 for a fifth year, and a first-class stamp rose to 49 cents.
The Federal Reserve ended its bond purchases in October but left its policy
rate at zero. A stronger dollar helped hold down import prices. Because
energy weighs heavily in the CPI, the late-year slide carried into 2015, which
posted the smallest annual increase of the decade.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 2014: $100 is worth $982 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-2014/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 2014. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-2014/