$100 in 1948 is worth $996 in 2016,
because prices increased 895.9% over that period, an average of
3.44% a year.
$100 in 1948 has
the same buying power as
$996
in 2016
Detailed inflation statistics
Cumulative price change
895.9%
Average inflation rate
3.44% per year
Converted amount ($100 base)
$996
Price difference ($100 base)
$896
CPI in 1948
24.1
CPI in 2016
240.007
Inflation in 1948
8.07%
Inflation in 2016
1.26%
$100 in 1948 → 2016
$996
$100 in 2016 → 1948
$10.04
What happened to prices between 1948 and 2016
Between 1948 and 2016, the Consumer Price Index went from 24.1 to 240.007.
Cumulatively, prices increased 895.9%, which works out to an average of
3.44% per year. Put differently, a dollar in 1948 bought what
$0.10 buys in 2016: the 1948 dollar
lost 90.0% of its purchasing power over
these 68 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 2016 at the same ratio, 9.96: $1,000 becomes
$9,959, and $10,000 becomes $99,588.
Amount in 1948
Value in 2016
$1.00
$9.96
$5.00
$49.79
$10.00
$99.59
$20.00
$199
$50.00
$498
$100
$996
$500
$4,979
$1,000
$9,959
$5,000
$49,794
$10,000
$99,588
$100,000
$995,880
$1,000,000
$9,958,797
Inflation by spending category, 1948–2016
Between 1948 and 2016, medical care rose the most, up 3120.0%, while apparel rose the least, up 196.6%, against 895.9% for all items. The headline number is an average; here is what $100 of 1948
spending costs in 2016, by category:
Category
Avg. yearly inflation
$100 in 1948 →
All items (CPI-U)
3.44%
$996
Medical care
5.24%
$3,220
Food
3.37%
$950
Transportation
3.36%
$946
Apparel
1.61%
$297
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 2016
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 1948–2016 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
2010–2016
1.61%
10.1%
$996
Year by year: CPI and the value of $100 from 1948
$100 from 1948 had already become $413 by
1983, on its way to $996 in 2016; 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: 2016
In 2016, prices rose 1.3% and $100 from 1948 had the buying
power of $996; the year's average CPI of 240.007 is the level
behind every 2016 figure on this page.
2016 opened with the cheapest oil in more than a decade and closed with a
change in political direction. Crude fell to about $26 a barrel in February,
and gasoline averaged $2.14 a gallon for the year, its lowest annual
average since 2004. Headline inflation was 1.3%, a modest rebound from 2015’s
0.1%, though prices excluding food and energy rose faster, driven by rents and
health care.
Median household income rose to $59,039, the second large gain in a row, and
the median new home sold for about $307,800. The federal minimum wage held at
$7.25, and a first-class stamp fell to 47 cents after a January rate cut, a
rare decrease.
Two votes changed the outlook. Britain’s June decision to leave the European
Union unsettled currency markets, and the U.S. election in November raised
expectations of tax cuts, deficits, and faster growth, sending long-term
interest rates higher. OPEC’s November output cut ended the oil slump, and the
Federal Reserve made its second rate increase in December, to 0.50–0.75%.
MLA: “Inflation from 1948 to 2016: $100 is worth $996 today.” InflationCalculator.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data, https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-2016/
APA: InflationCalculator.com. Inflation from 1948 to 2016. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U data. Retrieved from https://inflationcalculator.com/inflation/1948-to-2016/