pound.one

RPI inflation, 1948 to August 2026

£1,000 in 1948 is £53,435 today

That £1,000 bought 6,667 dozen eggs in 1948. Today it buys 419.

Prices up 5,243%5.2% a year on averageMultiply by 53.43

Measured with the Retail Prices Index, the only official series that runs back to 1948. Use CPI instead.

×53 £1 in 1948£53.43 today
It takes 53.4 of today's pounds to match one from 1948
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What £1,000 buys

Official average shop prices, not a basket. Things marked as outrunning inflation got dearer faster than everything else; things that lagged got relatively cheaper.

Item1948Today
dozen eggslagged inflation15p then, about £2.39 today6,667419
pints of milklagged inflation2p then, about 70p today47,6191,429
Same money, adjusted for inflation£1,000£53,435

The ONS stopped publishing these average prices in January 2025. Today's figures are that last reading moved on with inflation, so treat them as close rather than exact.