Red, Blue and Green: U.S. Inflation Rates by President

Inflation is on everyone's mind, and it's going to play a big role in the upcoming presidential election as everyone feels the pain at the grocery store, in rent increases, and utility bills. How will inflation shake out depending on who is elected? That's anyone's guess, but we can take a look at historical economics data for clues. 

To find the average yearly inflation rate by U.S. president, Investopedia broke down publicly available numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index since 1953. Here's the average of the year-over-year inflation rate for each presidential term in chronological order.

1953-1961

Eisenhower's presidency started with the end of the Korean War and included three recessions. Inflation stayed relatively low and stable through 1956, when it jumped to a modest 3%. It then declined again until the end of Ike's presidency. 

1961-1963

Slow and steady was the inflation rate during JFK's short presidency. This was the tail end of the idyllic 1950s, and tax cuts helped stimulate the economy even more. This is the lowest average inflation rate on this list.

1963-1969

Inflation rose to a high of 4.7% during Johnson's presidency in 1968 (it reached 6.2% in 1969, but he was only president for the first 20 days of the year, of course). He continued JFK's tax cuts and increased the U.S.' involvement in the Vietnam War.

1969-1974

Inflation was high during most of Nixon's presidency, including 8.7% in 1973 and 12.3% in 1974, the year of the Watergate Scandal that forced him to resign. This was the beginning of "stagflation," when unemployment and prices are high, but economic growth is slow. The year 1973 also saw OPEC launch an oil embargo against the U.S., which drove up gas prices dramatically.

1974-1977

Ford inherited a high-inflation economy from Nixon, which he tried to stabilize. The year of his tenure with the lowest inflation rate was 1976, when it was 4.9%. 

1977-1981

Carter's presidency has the highest average inflation rate on this list at almost 10%, thanks in large part to the continuing energy crisis in the late 1970s. High prices and unemployment led to a misery index of high of 21.98% in 1980. 

1981-1989

Reagan inherited high inflation, and instituted "Reaganomics" policies to help tame it. In general, it worked, though not without controversy and also a second-term increase in inflation back up to at least 4.4% by 1987.

1989-1993

The Savings & Loan Crisis pushed inflation up during Bush's first years as president, along with a recession and the start of the Gulf War. It reached a high of 6.1% in 1990, and came back down to 2.9% in 1992.

1993-2001

Inflation stayed relatively low during both terms of Clinton's presidency. It peaked at 3.3% in 1996, and was lowest in 1998 at 1.6%.

2001-2009

George W. Bush's two terms were marked with the Sept. 11 attacks and the 2008 Great Recession. That meant that inflation rates were up and down a lot, but only reached a high of 4.1% in 2007.

2009-2017

Obama inherited the Great Recession, and brought the inflation rate back down to 1.5% in 2010. It went back up to 3% in 2011 before remaining relatively low and steady for the rest of his two terms.

2017-2021

Inflation was relatively stable during the first years of Trump's presidency, but the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession led to the rampant inflation that we're still dealing with today.

2021-Present

Biden has been dealing with the economic fallout from the pandemic during his entire tenure so far, leading to record inflation and high interest rates. The war in Ukraine pushed fuel prices way up in 2022 as well.

Average inflation rate of Republican presidents: 4.1%

Average inflation rate of Democratic presidents: 3.9%

When you average these inflation rates for both Republican and Democratic presidents, you find that they're very close to each other, with Democrats' rates slightly lower. While presidential actions and policy can affect inflation, they're far from the only thing that has influence over the economy.

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