Gasoline, regular · per gallon · 1946 Estimated
This figure may be significantly off. It is projected back 44 years from the first recorded price, using general inflation. Items do not track inflation evenly — groceries in particular were far more expensive relative to other goods before modern agriculture, so a figure this old can understate the real price by two-fold or more. Use it for a sense of scale, not as a historical price.
$0.16in June 1946 — about $2.91 in today's money.
- Price in 1946$0.16
- Same money today$2.91
- Actual price now · July 2026$4.00
- Change since 1946+2359%
Price history
Record & method
No price was recorded for 1946. This figure is estimated: we took the earliest observed price (August 1990) and moved it back along the category inflation curve — a back-cast of 44 years. The further back it reaches, the less it should be trusted. Treat it as an approximation, not a historical fact.
- Source
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED. Public domain.
- Series
- GASREGW
- Estimated for
- June 1946
- Coverage
- August 1990 – July 2026
- Adjusted by
- CPIAUCNS · 18.7 → 333.952 (June 2026)
- Category curve
- CUUR0000SETB01
- Back-cast
- 44 years before the first record · very low confidence
- License
- Public domain