$100 in 1948 is worth $3,787 today
What Australian dollars from 1948 are worth in 2025 money, adjusted for inflation with the official price index from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
1948 money in 2025 money
- Prices since
- +3686.7%
- Per year
- +4.83% compounded
- Multiplier
- ×37.867
| In 1948 | Worth in 2025 |
|---|---|
| $1 | $37.87 |
| $5 | $189 |
| $10 | $379 |
| $20 | $757 |
| $50 | $1,893 |
| $100 | $3,787 |
| $1,000 | $37,867 |
| $10,000 | $378,667 |
Australian Bureau of Statistics — CPI, all groups, weighted average of eight capital cities, 2011-12 = 100. Retrieved 2026-08-06. 2025 figures are the the first three quarters average so far and will shift slightly as the year completes. Open in the calculator to compare any two years.
Inflation in 1948
1948 is the first year this price index covers, so it has no rate of its own — there is no earlier year to compare it with.
| Year | Rate | Bar |
|---|---|---|
| 1949 | +7.3% |
How far the Australian dollar has fallen since 1948
An Australian dollar in 2025 buys about 2.6% of what one bought in 1948, a loss of 97.4% of its buying power. Prices had doubled from their 1948 level by 1960, 12 years later. Read the other way, here is what today's money would have been in 1948:
| In 2025 | Same as, in 1948 |
|---|---|
| $10 | $0.26 |
| $20 | $0.53 |
| $50 | $1.32 |
| $100 | $2.64 |
| $1,000 | $26.41 |
| $10,000 | $264 |
What these numbers can and cannot tell you
The figures compare the price index in 1948 with 2025: the cost of the same broad basket of goods and services, averaged across each year. That is the right measure for "what would this amount be in today's money" — a wage, a price, an inheritance. It is not a measure of what any particular thing cost: housing, education, and healthcare have mostly risen faster than the average, while electronics and clothing have risen far slower or fallen. And it says nothing about exchange rates, so it cannot turn 1948 Australian dollars into another currency.
Common questions
How much is $100 from 1948 worth today?
$100 in 1948 is worth about $3,787 in 2025 money, adjusted with the official price index published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Prices have risen 3,686.7% over that span, an average of 4.83% a year compounded. 2025 figures are the the first three quarters average so far and will shift slightly as the year completes.
How much buying power has the Australian dollar lost since 1948?
About 97.4%. Put the other way round, $100 in 2025 would have bought what $2.64 bought in 1948. Prices had doubled from their 1948 level by 1960, 12 years later.
1948 in other countries: United States , United Kingdom , Canada .