Inflation Calculator
See what your money from the past would be worth today — or what today's money will be worth in the future.
How to use
- Enter an amount, a start year and an end year (1900–2026), plus the average annual inflation rate.
- Click Calculate.
- See the equivalent value and the total inflation percentage instantly.
Estimates only — not financial advice. Verify important decisions with a qualified professional.
What Is an Inflation Calculator?
An inflation calculator translates money between different years, showing what a sum from the past would be worth today — or what today's money could be worth in the future — at a given average inflation rate. Inflation quietly rewrites the value of every dollar: at a steady 3% a year, prices roughly double in about 24 years, which means money kept as cash loses half its purchasing power over that span. Putting an exact figure on that drift makes old prices, old salaries, and long-term goals much easier to judge.
The tool works in both directions. Run it forward to ask what $100 today might buy in twenty years, or backward to ask what a 1990 salary, house price, or movie ticket would equal in today's money. Historians, journalists, and family storytellers use it to make old amounts meaningful; savers use it for the more serious job of checking whether their money is growing faster than prices are rising — the only growth that actually counts.
How to Use the Inflation Calculator
- Enter the amount of money you want to convert.
- Enter the start year (the year that amount belongs to) and the end year (the year you want its value expressed in).
- Enter the average annual inflation rate to apply across the period — US inflation has averaged roughly 3% over the very long run, though individual decades differ greatly.
- Click Calculate to see the converted value and the total change in purchasing power.
How Inflation Is Measured
Official inflation figures, such as the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, track the average price of a basket of goods and services over time. This calculator does not look up CPI tables; instead it compounds the single average rate you supply across the years you choose, using the formula Future Value = Amount × (1 + rate)^years. That makes it flexible — you can test a mild 2% assumption, the long-run 3%, or the much higher rates some decades actually experienced — but the result is only as good as the rate you enter.
Tips for Using Inflation Numbers Honestly
- Match the rate to the period: inflation in the late 1970s ran far above the long-run average, while much of the 2010s ran below it.
- Remember that your personal inflation differs from the national figure — housing, tuition, and healthcare have often risen faster than the overall index.
- For retirement planning, compare your expected investment return with your inflation assumption; the gap between them is your real return.
What inflation rate should I enter?
For a general long-term estimate, around 3% reflects the very long-run US average, and the Federal Reserve targets about 2% going forward. For a specific historical period, use a rate that matches that era — a single rate is an average, and real inflation varied year by year within every period.
How long does it take inflation to halve the value of money?
Use the Rule of 72: divide 72 by the inflation rate. At 3% inflation, purchasing power halves in about 24 years; at 6%, in about 12 years. This is why cash held for decades without earning interest steadily loses ground even though the dollar amount never changes.
Is this the same as the official CPI conversion?
Not exactly. Official conversions use the actual CPI index values for each year, which capture the real year-by-year changes. This calculator compounds one constant average rate you choose, which is simpler and lets you run hypothetical scenarios, but historical results will differ somewhat from a CPI-table conversion.
Why do old prices in stories sound so impossibly cheap?
Because they were — in nominal terms. A 1970 house price or a 1950 salary is quoted in dollars that bought far more than today's dollars do. Converting those amounts with this calculator usually shows the past was neither as cheap nor as expensive as the raw numbers suggest.