Consumer prices rose 14.4% in 1947, up from 1946’s 8.3% and the fastest annual increase since 1920, as the last of the wartime price controls disappeared and a year of strikes, wage catch-up, and lingering shortages hit consumers all at once. Congress answered the previous year’s strike wave that June, overriding President Truman’s veto to pass the Taft-Hartley Act, which banned secondary boycotts and the closed shop and let states adopt “right-to-work” laws curbing union power. American attention was also turning outward. In a June 5 speech at Harvard, Secretary of State George Marshall outlined a U.S.-funded plan to rebuild Western Europe’s economies, an effort that would become known as the Marshall Plan once Congress funded it the following year. The government reorganized itself for the confrontation with the Soviet Union that plan was partly designed to prevent: the National Security Act, signed July 26, created the Department of Defense, the Air Force as a separate service, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Council. Consumer prices stood 125.3% above their 1913 level and 30.4% above 1929’s pre-Depression peak, up from just 1.2% above it four years earlier. First-class postage held at 3 cents, and the minimum wage stayed at 40 cents an hour.
Year in review
Inflation in 1947
The U.S. inflation rate in 1947 was 14.4% (CPI: 22.3). Convert 1947 dollars to today →
14.4% 1947 inflation rate
5.6% 1940s average
19.7% peak month (Mar)
8.5% lowest month (Nov)
What things cost in 1947
| First-class stamp | $0.03 |
|---|---|
| Federal minimum wage | $0.40 |
What $100 from 1947 was worth later
| In 1950 | $108 |
|---|---|
| In 1960 | $133 |
| In 1970 | $174 |
| In 1980 | $370 |
| In 1990 | $586 |
| In 2000 | $772 |
| In 2010 | $978 |
| In 2020 | $1,161 |
| In 2026 | $1,487 |
Inflation in 1947, month by month
| Month | CPI-U | 12-month rate |
|---|---|---|
| January | 21.5 | 18.1% |
| February | 21.5 | 18.8% |
| March | 21.9 | 19.7% |
| April | 21.9 | 19.0% |
| May | 21.9 | 18.4% |
| June | 22 | 17.6% |
| July | 22.2 | 12.1% |
| August | 22.5 | 11.4% |
| September | 23 | 12.7% |
| October | 23 | 10.6% |
| November | 23.1 | 8.5% |
| December | 23.4 | 8.8% |
Economic events of 1947
- Consumer prices rise 14.4%, the fastest increase since 1920 With wartime price controls gone entirely, the full force of postwar demand, a strike-driven wage catch-up, and lingering shortages hit consumers at once.
- Congress passes the Taft-Hartley Act over Truman's veto Signed into law June 23 after Congress overrode President Truman's veto, the act banned secondary boycotts and the closed shop and let states pass "right-to-work" laws, curbing union power after the strike wave of the year before.
- George Marshall proposes what becomes the Marshall Plan In a June 5 speech at Harvard, Secretary of State George Marshall outlined a U.S.-funded plan to rebuild Western Europe's shattered economies, aiming to head off the economic chaos that could feed Soviet influence.
- The National Security Act reorganizes the government for the Cold War Signed July 26, the law created the Department of Defense, the Air Force as a separate service, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Council.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index history; Federal Reserve History (postwar decontrol); U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian (Marshall Plan; National Security Act).
Inflation figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U annual averages. See the methodology.