See how the buying power of money changes over time. Enter an amount and two years to find the inflation-adjusted equivalent, total inflation, and average annual rate using US CPI data.
Based on historical US CPI-U annual averages (1913–2026). Values for the most recent years are estimates and are provided for general information only, not financial advice.
Inflation is the gradual rise in the general level of prices for goods and services over time. When prices rise, each unit of currency buys a little less than it did before, so inflation is really a measure of falling purchasing power. A modest, steady rate of inflation is normal in a growing economy and is even targeted by central banks, but high or unpredictable inflation erodes savings and complicates long-term planning. The opposite phenomenon, when prices fall over time, is called deflation.
Understanding inflation helps you compare amounts of money across different eras. A salary of $30,000 in 1990 was worth far more in real terms than the same number today, because the cost of housing, food, transportation, and nearly everything else has climbed since then. This calculator translates a dollar figure from one year into its equivalent buying power in another year so the comparison is apples to apples.
The most widely used measure of US inflation is the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, abbreviated CPI-U and published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPI tracks the average change over time in the prices paid by urban households for a representative "basket" of goods and services, including food, housing, apparel, transportation, medical care, recreation, and education. The basket and its weights are periodically updated to reflect actual spending patterns.
The index is expressed relative to a base period, currently the 1982–1984 average set equal to 100. So a CPI value of 300 means prices are roughly three times what they were in the early 1980s. To compare buying power between any two years, you take the ratio of their index values. The formula is:
equivalent value = amount x (CPI end year / CPI start year) total inflation % = (CPI end / CPI start - 1) x 100 average annual rate = (CPI end / CPI start) ^ (1 / years) - 1
The average annual rate uses a geometric mean rather than a simple average because inflation compounds year over year, much like interest. That is why a total increase of, say, 130% over 36 years works out to an average of only a few percent per year.
Suppose you want to know what $100 in 1990 is worth in 2026. In this dataset the CPI for 1990 is about 130.7 and for 2026 is about 330.2. The equivalent value is 100 x (330.2 / 130.7), which is 100 x 2.526, or roughly $252.60. In other words, you would need about $252.60 in 2026 to buy what $100 bought in 1990.
The total inflation over that span is (330.2 / 130.7 - 1) x 100, which is about 152.6%. Spread across the 36 years between 1990 and 2026, the average annual inflation rate is (330.2 / 130.7) ^ (1 / 36) - 1, which comes out to roughly 2.6% per year. This illustrates how even a seemingly moderate yearly rate produces a large cumulative effect over decades.
Inflation is the reason savings kept as idle cash lose value over time. If your money earns 1% in a savings account while prices rise 3%, your real return is negative and your purchasing power shrinks. This is why investors pay attention to real returns, meaning returns after subtracting inflation, rather than nominal returns. Inflation also affects wages, pensions, and government benefits, some of which include cost-of-living adjustments tied to the CPI. When negotiating a raise or evaluating a long-term contract, factoring in expected inflation helps ensure the real value of the money holds up.
The CPI is a broad national average and may not reflect your personal experience of inflation. If you spend a large share of your income on categories that rose faster than average, such as housing or healthcare, your effective inflation rate could be higher than the headline number. The basket also changes over time, and quality adjustments for products like electronics can be difficult to capture. For those reasons, treat these figures as a reliable general guide rather than an exact accounting of any individual's costs. The most recent years in this tool are estimates and should be confirmed against official Bureau of Labor Statistics releases for precise work.