Free Inflation Calculator (US CPI, 1913–Today)
What would $100 from 1985 buy today? Convert dollar amounts between any two years since 1913 using the official Consumer Price Index, and see the total and average yearly inflation in between.
Equivalent value
How to use the inflation calculator
- Enter a dollar amount.
- Choose the year the money is from and the year you want to compare it to. It works in both directions: you can also see what today's dollars would have been worth in the past.
- Read the equivalent value, the total price change over the period, and the average annual inflation rate.
How inflation is measured
This calculator uses the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. It tracks the price of a broad basket of goods and services: housing, food, transportation, medical care and more. The equivalent value is simply the amount multiplied by the ratio of the two years' CPI. Full years use the annual average; the current year uses the most recent monthly reading.
Over long periods, inflation compounds the same way investment returns do. Prices in the US have risen roughly 3% a year on average over the past century, which is enough to cut the purchasing power of cash in half about every 23 years. That is why money kept in a checking account slowly loses value, and why it matters that savings and salaries grow at least as fast as prices.
Keep in mind that the CPI is an average. Your personal inflation rate depends on what you buy: a renter in an expensive city, a retiree with high medical costs, and a family that drives a lot all experience different price changes. Specific categories like college tuition, healthcare and housing have risen much faster than the overall index for decades, while electronics have become far cheaper.
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Frequently asked questions
Where does the data come from?
Annual averages of the CPI-U (not seasonally adjusted) from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, via the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The 2025 average uses 11 months because the October 2025 index was not published during the government shutdown.
Why use the annual average instead of a specific month?
Most people think of money in terms of a year, and annual averages smooth out seasonal swings. The current year uses the latest monthly value so the result is as current as possible.
Does this work for other countries?
No. It uses US consumer prices only. Other countries publish their own price indexes.
What was the highest inflation year?
In modern times, 1979–1981 saw double-digit inflation, peaking around 13.5% for 1980. During and right after World War I, prices rose even faster, and there were periods of deflation during the Great Depression.