Every U.S. Fed Chair’s Inflation Record in One Chart

Kevin Warsh has been confirmed as Federal Reserve Chair, taking over from Jerome Powell with inflation running at 3.8%.

That number sounds manageable in isolation. Placed against 110 years of Fed history, it looks considerably more significant.

The infographic above shows the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairs and the Inflation Rate at Year of Departure.

It was gathered from CPI-U data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, tracking inflation in the year each of the 16 prior Fed chairs left office.

One striking realization is that no incoming chair has faced higher inflation on day one since Paul Volcker in 1979.

Warsh’s 54-45 Senate confirmation and his promise of “regime change” at the central bank arrive with a historical burden that the data makes specific.

Kevin Warsh inherits a 3.8% inflation rate, the highest starting point for any incoming Fed chair since Paul Volcker in 1979.
Jerome Powell’s departure inflation is estimated at 2.7% based on Q1 2026 data, but the current inflation rate of 3.8% suggests his actual exit rate may be higher.
G. William Miller holds the all-time record for worst departure conditions at 11.3% in 1979, serving only 17 months.

The dataset runs from Charles S. Hamlin, who left in 1916 with 7.7% inflation, through Jerome Powell’s estimated 2.7% departure rate based on Q1 2026 figures.

The post-Volcker era shows a 40-year band of relative stability.

Every chair that has departed since 1987 has left with inflation between 1.6% and 3.2%. Warsh enters above that band, at 3.8%. The modern era’s stable handoff pattern is broken.