Inflation calculator (US CPI, 1913 to today)
Compare purchasing power between any two years using the official CPI-U series from 1913, or project prices forward at a custom inflation rate.
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Cumulative inflation
+146.82%
over 35 years
Average per year
2.62%
compound annual rate
Buying power in 1990
$405.15
of $1,000.00 in 2025
Prices multiplied by
2.468×
The 2025 annual average is provisional and may be revised by the BLS.
- Value of $1,000 from 1990$2,468
Formula and working
Equivalent value
Value = amount × CPI(to) / CPI(from) Value = 1,000 × 322.6 ÷ 130.7 = $2,468.25
Cumulative inflation
Inflation = (CPI(to) / CPI(from) − 1) × 100 Inflation = (322.6 ÷ 130.7 − 1) × 100 = 146.825%
Average annual inflation
Rate = (CPI(to) / CPI(from))^(1/years) − 1 Rate = (322.6 ÷ 130.7)^(1 ÷ 35) − 1 = 2.615% per year
CPI-U is the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, US city average, all items, index base 1982-84 = 100. Annual figures are the average of the twelve monthly index values.
| Year | CPI-U | Inflation | Value of $1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 130.7 | +5.4% | $1,000.00 |
| 1991 | 136.2 | +4.21% | $1,042.08 |
| 1992 | 140.3 | +3.01% | $1,073.45 |
| 1993 | 144.5 | +2.99% | $1,105.59 |
| 1994 | 148.2 | +2.56% | $1,133.89 |
| 1995 | 152.4 | +2.83% | $1,166.03 |
| 1996 | 156.9 | +2.95% | $1,200.46 |
| 1997 | 160.5 | +2.29% | $1,228.00 |
| 1998 | 163 | +1.56% | $1,247.13 |
| 1999 | 166.6 | +2.21% | $1,274.67 |
| 2000 | 172.2 | +3.36% | $1,317.52 |
| 2001 | 177.1 | +2.85% | $1,355.01 |
Showing 1–12 of 36 rows
Assumptions
- CPI-U measures a fixed basket of goods and services bought by urban US consumers. Your own inflation rate depends on what you actually buy — housing, tuition and healthcare have risen much faster than the average.
- Annual averages are used, so a comparison between two years is really a comparison between two twelve-month averages, not two specific dates.
- The index is not adjusted for changes in quality or substitution between goods beyond the BLS methodology already applied.
- Figures for other countries will differ. Use custom rate mode with your own national inflation figure outside the US.
- Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U, US city average, all items, 1982-84 = 100.
How to use the inflation calculator
- Stay in US CPI data mode to compare two real years. Enter an amount, the year it applies to, and the year you want it expressed in.
- The comparison works in both directions. Set the second year earlier than the first to ask what today's money was worth back then.
- Switch to custom rate mode to project forward at a rate you choose — useful for planning, and for any country outside the US.
- Use the year-by-year table to see the index itself, the annual inflation rate, and what your amount was worth in each intervening year. Export it as CSV if you need it in a spreadsheet.
How the calculation works
Every result comes from one ratio:
Value = amount × CPI(to year) / CPI(from year). The Consumer Price Index measures
the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services, so the ratio of two index values is the
ratio of two price levels. Cumulative inflation is that ratio minus one; the average annual
rate is the ratio taken to the power of one over the number of years, minus one.
The data is the annual average CPI-U series published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics — Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, US city average, all items, with the index base set so that 1982-84 = 100. The complete series from 1913 is embedded in this page, so the calculator works offline and sends nothing anywhere.
Average annual US inflation by decade
| Decade | Average per year | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|
| 1920–1930 | −1.79% | −17% |
| 1930–1940 | −1.75% | −16% |
| 1940–1950 | 5.58% | +72% |
| 1950–1960 | 2.08% | +23% |
| 1960–1970 | 2.74% | +31% |
| 1970–1980 | 7.82% | +112% |
| 1980–1990 | 4.72% | +59% |
| 1990–2000 | 2.80% | +32% |
| 2000–2010 | 2.39% | +27% |
| 2010–2020 | 1.73% | +19% |
| 2020–2025 | 4.50% | +25% |
The 1920s and 1930s were deflationary — prices actually fell. The 1970s were the outlier in the other direction, with prices more than doubling in a decade. The 2010s were the calmest stretch on record, which is part of why the 2021–2023 episode felt so sharp.
What 100 from a past year is worth now
| Year | Equivalent in 2025 | Average inflation since |
|---|---|---|
| 1913 | 3,258.59 | 3.16% |
| 1950 | 1,338.59 | 3.52% |
| 1970 | 831.44 | 3.93% |
| 1980 | 391.50 | 3.08% |
| 1990 | 246.82 | 2.62% |
| 2000 | 187.34 | 2.54% |
| 2010 | 147.94 | 2.65% |
| 2020 | 124.65 | 4.50% |
Recent annual inflation
| Year | CPI-U annual average | Inflation |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 255.657 | 1.8% |
| 2020 | 258.811 | 1.2% |
| 2021 | 270.970 | 4.7% |
| 2022 | 292.655 | 8.0% |
| 2023 | 304.702 | 4.1% |
| 2024 | 313.689 | 2.9% |
| 2025 | 322.600 | 2.8% |
The 2025 annual average is provisional and may be revised by the BLS. Everything through 2024 is a final published figure.
Why your personal inflation rate is different
CPI-U tracks one basket weighted to the spending of the average urban US household: roughly a third housing, an eighth food, a sixth transport, and so on. Your basket is not that basket. Renters in a tight housing market, families paying childcare, and anyone with significant medical or tuition costs have all faced higher effective inflation than the headline number for most of the past twenty years. Someone with a fixed-rate mortgage and a short commute has faced less.
There are also methodological caveats worth knowing. The index uses annual averages here, so a comparison between two years compares two twelve-month averages rather than two specific dates. And the BLS applies hedonic quality adjustments and substitution assumptions, which are defensible but do mean the index is not a naive price tag comparison.
Using this outside the United States
The embedded table is US-only. For other countries, switch to custom rate mode and use your own national statistics office's average inflation rate for the period — the ONS in the UK, Eurostat or your national institute in the euro area, Statistics Canada, or the ABS in Australia. The arithmetic is identical; only the index differs.
Questions
Where does the CPI data come from?
The annual average CPI-U series published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics — Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, US city average, all items, index base 1982-84 = 100. The whole table is embedded in the page, so nothing is fetched at runtime.
How is the equivalent value calculated?
Value = amount × CPI(to year) ÷ CPI(from year). That rebases the amount from one year’s price level to another. The same ratio gives cumulative inflation and, taken to the power of one over the number of years, the average annual rate.
Why does this not match my own experience of prices?
CPI-U tracks a fixed basket for the average urban US household. If your spending is weighted towards housing, healthcare, childcare or tuition, your personal inflation rate has been higher than the headline figure for most of the last two decades.
Can I use it for other countries?
The CPI table is US-only. Switch to custom rate mode and enter your own country’s average inflation rate to run the same maths on any currency.
How current is the data?
Annual averages are included through the most recent complete year. The latest year is marked provisional in the results because the BLS can revise it.