Inflation Calculator
See what a dollar amount from one year is worth in another year, adjusted for inflation.
Inflation Calculator
Inflation Calculator shows what an amount of money from one year is worth in another, using an annual inflation rate you can set yourself.
How to use it
- Enter the amount and the year it comes from.
- Set the year you want to compare to.
- Adjust the annual inflation rate if you want a different assumption.
- Read the adjusted value.
How the adjustment is calculated
Inflation compounds like interest. An amount is multiplied by one plus the rate, once for every year between the two dates. Over long spans that compounding produces figures that surprise people.
The rate you choose drives everything. US inflation has averaged somewhere near 3% over the long run, but individual years have ranged from negative to over 8%, so a single average smooths over periods that felt very different to live through.
Worked example
The default comparison:
- Amount$1,000
- From2000
- To2024
- Annual rate3.1%
Result: About $2,081. You would need roughly twice as many dollars in 2024 to buy what $1,000 bought in 2000.
When it helps
- Understanding whether a raise actually kept pace with the cost of living.
- Comparing a historical price or salary to today's money.
- Checking whether an investment return beat inflation in real terms.
- Putting an old figure in a document into modern context.
Common mistakes
- Treating the average rate as what you personally experienced. Housing, healthcare and education have risen far faster than the general index, and electronics have fallen.
- Comparing nominal returns across decades without adjusting. A 5% return in a 9% inflation year is a real loss.
- Assuming a single national figure applies to your city.
What this tool handles
- Uses a flat annual rate that you set, not official year-by-year index data. Change the rate to model different assumptions.
