Inflation Calculator
US CPI Data · 1913 to 2025
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Select an amount and year range to see the inflation impact on purchasing power.
Equivalent value
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Remaining Purchasing Power100%
100% of original value remains
What Is $1,000 Worth Today?
Click any row to populate the calculator: based on US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI data
How Inflation Erodes Purchasing Power
US consumer prices rose 3.4% in the 12 months to August 2026, according to the BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). Over longer periods the effect adds up: $1,000 in 2000 had the same buying power as $1,869 in 2025. Pick an amount and two years above to convert any sum between 1913 and 2025 using annual average CPI data.
Inflation is the sustained rise in the general price level of goods and services over time. It is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), published monthly by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPI tracks prices across a representative basket: housing (the largest group, about 44% including shelter), transportation, food and beverages, medical care, recreation, and apparel.
The effect compounds. At 3% average annual inflation, $1,000 loses about half its purchasing power in 23 years. Over the full period from 1913 to 2025, prices rose about 3,150%, so $1 in 1913 bought what $32.52 bought in 2025.
The CPI Basket (2026)
Housing 44.5% (shelter alone 35.6%), transportation 16.3%, food and beverages 14.5%, medical care 8.4%, education and communication 5.8%, recreation 5.1%, other goods and services 2.9%, apparel 2.4% (BLS relative importance, December 2025). These weights change periodically to reflect actual spending patterns. Housing is by far the largest group, though in 2026 energy has driven most of the rise in headline inflation.
Historical US Inflation Averages
From annual average CPI: 1913 to 2025, about 3.2% a year. 1970 to 1980 (oil shocks): 7.8%. 1980 to 1990: 4.7%. 1990 to 2000: 2.8%. 2000 to 2010: 2.4%. 2010 to 2020: 1.7%. 2020 to 2025: 4.5% (pandemic and energy shock). The Fed's 2% target reflects consensus on price stability without deflation risk.
Real vs Nominal Returns
Nominal return is raw growth. Real return adjusts for inflation. At 7% nominal with 3% inflation, real return is approximately 4%. $1,000,000 in 2050 dollars may only have the purchasing power of $500,000 today. Always compare savings rates, investment returns, and salary growth in real (inflation-adjusted) terms for meaningful financial planning.
Inflation-Protected Assets
Assets that historically beat inflation: equities (S&P 500 averages ~7% real), real estate, TIPS (Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, CPI-indexed), I-bonds (CPI + fixed rate), commodities. Assets that lose to inflation: cash savings at low rates, fixed-rate bonds during rising inflation periods, traditional savings accounts at 0.01 to 0.5% APY.
What $1,000 From Past Years Is Worth in 2025
Annual average CPI-U, the same data the calculator uses. "Average rate" is the compound yearly inflation over the period.
| From year | $1,000 then equals, in 2025 | Total price rise | Average rate a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | $13,356.85 | 1,235.7% | 3.5% |
| 1960 | $10,875.00 | 987.5% | 3.7% |
| 1970 | $8,296.39 | 729.6% | 3.9% |
| 1980 | $3,906.55 | 290.7% | 3.1% |
| 1990 | $2,462.89 | 146.3% | 2.6% |
| 2000 | $1,869.34 | 86.9% | 2.5% |
| 2010 | $1,475.93 | 47.6% | 2.6% |
| 2015 | $1,358.23 | 35.8% | 3.1% |
| 2020 | $1,243.82 | 24.4% | 4.5% |
| 2022 | $1,099.76 | 10.0% | 3.2% |
| 2024 | $1,026.14 | 2.6% | 2.6% |
The calculator stops at 2025 because 2026 does not have a full-year average yet. To bring a 2025 figure up to date, the August 2026 index (334.980) was 4.05% above the 2025 average, so $1,000 in 2025 dollars is about $1,040 in August 2026 prices.
Latest Inflation Numbers and Recent Years
August 2026 (released 11 September 2026)
- All items, 12 months: up 3.4%, the same as in July.
- Core (excluding food and energy), 12 months: up 2.4%, down from 2.5%.
- Energy, 12 months: up 16.3%. Gasoline alone rose 3.9% in August and accounted for over a third of that month's increase.
- Monthly change: up 0.4% seasonally adjusted, after 0.1% in July.
- Next release: September 2026 data on 14 October 2026.
Annual inflation by year
Change in the annual average CPI-U from the year before.
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inflation | 1.2% | 4.7% | 8.0% | 4.1% | 2.9% | 2.6% |
How to Calculate Inflation by Hand
Value in later year = amount × (CPI in later year ÷ CPI in earlier year). For $100 in 1990: 321.943 ÷ 130.7 is 2.463, so $100 then is about $246 in 2025. The percentage rise is the same ratio minus 1, here 146%.
To get the average yearly rate, take the ratio to the power of 1 divided by the number of years and subtract 1. Over 35 years, 2.463 becomes an average of 2.6% a year.
For a quick estimate of how fast prices double, divide 70 by the inflation rate. At 3% prices double in about 23 years; at the current 3.4% in about 21.
Method and sources. Adjusted value = amount × CPIto ÷ CPIfrom; average rate = (CPIto ÷ CPIfrom)1/years − 1. All tables were computed from Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U annual averages (U.S. city average, all items, 1982 to 1984 = 100). Latest figures: BLS Consumer Price Index news release for August 2026, published 11 September 2026. Basket weights: BLS CPI relative importance, December 2025. I bond rate: TreasuryDirect, bonds issued May to October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices rises over time, reducing purchasing power. The primary measure in the US is the Consumer Price Index (CPI), published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). CPI tracks the price change of a fixed basket of roughly 80,000 goods and services across categories including housing, food, transportation, medical care, recreation, and clothing. A related measure, PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures), is the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge and tends to run slightly lower than CPI. Core CPI and core PCE exclude volatile food and energy prices to reveal underlying trends.
The highest modern inflation era was 1979 to 1980, when CPI inflation measured December to December reached 13.3% and 12.5%, driven by the 1979 oil shock and loose monetary policy. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker responded by raising the federal funds rate to 20% in 1981, inducing a severe recession but breaking the inflationary spiral. In the pre-modern era, WWI caused inflation to spike to 18% in 1918, and WWII-era price controls were followed by 14.4% inflation in 1947 when controls lifted. The most recent spike was June 2022 at 9.1% year-over-year, the highest since 1981, driven by pandemic supply chain disruptions and energy price surges following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Inflation is a silent tax on cash. Money in a low-yield savings account loses purchasing power every year that inflation exceeds the interest rate. If inflation runs 3% and your savings earn 0.5%, you lose 2.5% of real purchasing power annually. Over 20 years at those rates, $100,000 would only buy what about $61,000 buys today (about $55,000 if the cash earns nothing). That is why holding large amounts of cash for many years is costly. High-yield savings accounts can roughly keep pace with inflation while interest rates are high, but their rates fall when the Fed cuts. For anything beyond a 1 to 2 year horizon, investing in inflation-beating assets (equities, real estate, TIPS) is essential for preserving real wealth.
The Federal Reserve's stated inflation target is 2% per year, measured by the PCE price index. The 2% target was formally adopted in 2012 and represents a balance: low enough to preserve price stability and prevent erosion of purchasing power, but high enough to avoid deflation risk. Deflation (falling prices) is considered more dangerous than mild inflation because it causes consumers to delay purchases (waiting for lower prices), reduces business revenues, increases real debt burdens, and can trigger economic depression. Japan's "Lost Decade" (1990s-2000s) of deflation is the canonical example. Most major central banks also target 2%.
CPI (Consumer Price Index): measures price changes for a fixed basket of goods and services. All-items CPI includes food and energy, which are volatile. The headline CPI-U is used for TIPS indexing and most public reporting; Social Security COLAs use a related index, the CPI-W. Core CPI: excludes food and energy prices to reduce volatility and reveal underlying trends. The Fed watches this but does not officially target it. PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures): the Fed's preferred measure. Differences from CPI: PCE uses chain-weighting (accounts for substitution when prices change), covers a broader range of goods and services (including third-party purchases like employer-paid healthcare), and weights housing differently. PCE inflation typically runs about 0.25 to 0.5 percentage points below CPI inflation.
A salary increase below the inflation rate is effectively a pay cut in real terms. If you receive a 3% raise but inflation runs 4%, your real purchasing power declines by approximately 1%. This is why negotiating salary increases at least equal to inflation is essential for maintaining living standards. Real wage growth (nominal wage growth minus inflation) is the economically meaningful measure of worker purchasing power improvement. During 2021 and 2022, many workers saw real wage declines despite nominal raises, as CPI inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022. Social Security benefits are adjusted annually by the CPI-W (wage earners' CPI) through Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) to protect retirees from inflation erosion.
TIPS (Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities) are US government bonds whose principal adjusts with CPI. The interest rate (coupon) is fixed, but it applies to an inflation-adjusted principal, so your income and principal both grow with inflation. TIPS are best held in tax-advantaged accounts because the annual inflation adjustment is taxable as phantom income even if not received as cash. I-bonds are US savings bonds with a composite rate: a fixed rate set at issuance (0.90% for I bonds issued May to October 2026) plus a variable rate adjusted every 6 months based on CPI. Interest is federal-tax-deferred and state-tax-exempt. Limitations: $10,000/year per person purchase limit, 1-year minimum hold, 3-month interest penalty if redeemed before 5 years.
Inflation has complex effects on homeownership. Fixed-rate mortgages become cheaper in real terms during inflation: a $2,000 monthly payment is worth less each year as the dollar depreciates. This is why people who bought homes with 30-year fixed mortgages in the 1970s benefited enormously: inflation eroded the real cost of their debt while home prices rose. Conversely, high inflation typically leads the Fed to raise interest rates, which increases mortgage rates and reduces home affordability for new buyers. In 2022-2023, 30-year mortgage rates rose from 3% to 7%+, cutting the loan a given payment can support by more than a third. Landlords can raise rents to match inflation; fixed-rate borrowers cannot be forced to pay more.
Inflation has two main causes: demand-pull (too much money chasing too few goods) and cost-push (rising production costs passed to consumers). Recent inflation (2021-2023) combined both: massive pandemic fiscal stimulus created demand-pull, while supply chain disruptions and energy price shocks created cost-push. The Federal Reserve controls inflation primarily through the federal funds rate. Raising rates: increases borrowing costs, reduces spending and investment, slows economic activity and demand, reducing upward price pressure. Lowering rates: stimulates borrowing and spending, increasing economic activity and potentially inflation. The Fed's dual mandate is maximum employment AND price stability (2% inflation). Balancing both is called the "soft landing" challenge.
Inflation is one of the most underestimated risks in retirement planning. A retiree spending $60,000/year at age 65 with 3% average inflation will need about $108,000/year at age 85 to maintain the same lifestyle. Key strategies: invest in assets with inflation-beating returns (equity index funds historically return 7% real), include TIPS and I-bonds as a fixed-income component, use a 4% withdrawal rule adjusted annually for inflation, consider delaying Social Security (COLA-adjusted) to maximize that inflation-protected income stream, maintain some equity exposure throughout retirement (not 100% bonds), and re-evaluate spending plans every 5 years. Healthcare prices have often risen faster than general CPI, so healthcare cost assumptions should be especially conservative for long retirements.
Hyperinflation is conventionally defined as monthly inflation exceeding 50% (equivalent to roughly 13,000% annually). It typically occurs when governments print money to fund deficits without economic backing. Historic examples: Weimar Germany (1921-1923) peaked at 30,000% monthly. Zimbabwe (2007-2008) reached an estimated 79.6 billion percent monthly. Venezuela ran annual inflation above 100,000% in 2018. The US has never experienced hyperinflation. The American Revolution-era Continental currency inflated heavily, and Confederate currency collapsed during the Civil War, but the United States as currently constituted has not approached hyperinflation. The US dollar's status as global reserve currency and the Fed's independence provide significant structural protection against hyperinflation.
The CPI-U rose 3.4% over the 12 months to August 2026, the latest figure the Bureau of Labor Statistics has published (released 11 September 2026). Core inflation, which leaves out food and energy, was 2.4%, and energy prices were up 16.3% on the year. The September 2026 figures are due on 14 October 2026.
About $246 in 2025 dollars. The annual average CPI-U was 130.7 in 1990 and 321.943 in 2025, so prices rose by a factor of 2.463, or 146%. Put the other way, a 2025 dollar buys what about 41 cents bought in 1990.