How to use
- Enter an amount in US dollars.
- Pick the year the money is from and the year to compare it to.
- Read its value in the other year, the total price change and the average inflation per year.
- For future prices, switch to Future prices and enter your own yearly rate.
How inflation is calculated (formula)
Value in year B = amount × CPI(B) ÷ CPI(A)
Total inflation = CPI(later) ÷ CPI(earlier) − 1
Average inflation = (CPI(later) ÷ CPI(earlier))^(1 ÷ years) − 1
The CPI is the Consumer Price Index: the price of a typical basket of goods and services, as an index. This is the constant-dollar method the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) describes.
Examples
$100 in 2000: CPI 172.2 then and 321.943 in 2025.
- $100 × 321.943 ÷ 172.2 = $186.96 in 2025 dollars.
- Prices rose 86.96%, about 2.53% a year.
The BLS’s own example: a $35,000 salary in 2005 is worth $42,476 in 2015 dollars.
Future prices: at 3% a year, what costs $100 today costs $134.39 in 10 years. Your $100 then buys what $74.41 buys today.
What $100 was worth, in 2025 dollars
| Year | CPI-U | $100 then in 2025 dollars | Average inflation since |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 24.1 | $1,335.86 | 3.52% a year |
| 1970 | 38.8 | $829.75 | 3.92% a year |
| 1980 | 82.4 | $390.71 | 3.07% a year |
| 1990 | 130.7 | $246.32 | 2.61% a year |
| 2000 | 172.2 | $186.96 | 2.53% a year |
| 2010 | 218.056 | $147.64 | 2.63% a year |
| 2020 | 258.811 | $124.39 | 4.46% a year |
About the data
- Series: CPI-U, all urban consumers, US city average, all items (BLS series CUUR0000SA0), with 1982–84 = 100.
- Values: yearly averages from 1913 to 2025, copied from the BLS data file on 21 October 2026.
- 2026 is added once BLS publishes its yearly average, after the December figures.
- The CPI is a national average. Your own costs may have risen faster or slower.
Yearly averages vs December-to-December
A yearly average is the mean of the 12 monthly index values. Its change from one year to the next is not the same as the change from one December to the next, which news reports often quote.
BLS published the index to one decimal place before 2007 and to three decimals since. BLS did not publish an October 2025 index, but it did publish the 2025 yearly average used here.
To work out any other percentage change, use the percentage calculator.