Inflation Calculator

Money loses value over time, and adjusting for inflation is how you see what a past dollar amount is really worth later on. Enter an amount and a starting year, and the equivalent purchasing power is calculated for a target year, 2026 included. Grasping how inflation erodes buying power underpins sound financial planning, smarter investment choices, and a clearer reading of long-run economic history.

The calculator does not look up individual Consumer Price Index (CPI) values. It uses an approximate average annual CPI inflation rate for each decade, averages those rates over the years between your start and end year, and compounds that single rate: Equivalent Amount = Amount × (1 + average rate)^years, dividing instead of multiplying when you go back in time. You can replace the historical average with your own rate in the optional field. Because decade averages smooth over year-to-year swings, the result is an approximation; for an official figure, use the ratio of the CPI-U index values published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Keep in view that CPI is an average, so your personal inflation rate can diverge from it depending on how you spend. The figure here is an estimate, and real inflation can swing with economic events no one saw coming. Leaving inflation out of long-horizon plans like retirement is where people go wrong most often, because it quietly understates how much money future goals will actually require.