Inflation Calculator
Convert any amount between years using official US CPI-U data, with total change, average annual inflation and a year-by-year table.
What is an amount worth in another year?
$100.00 in 1980 has the same buying power as $380.69 in 2024.
- Equivalent amount
- $380.69
- Total price change
- +280.69%
- Average annual inflation
- +3.08% per year
- Buying power change
- -73.73%
Year by year
| Year | CPI-U | Value | Inflation |
|---|
Project forward at your own inflation rate
The CPI table stops at 2024, the last complete year it covers. To look further ahead — or to model any country — pick an average annual rate yourself.
- Cost then, same basket
- $1,343.92
- Buying power then, in today's money
- $744.09
How it works
This inflation calculator uses the official CPI-U series — the US Consumer
Price Index for All Urban Consumers, annual averages published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics — for every year from 1913 to 2024. The maths is the standard
index ratio: value in target year = amount × CPI(target) ÷ CPI(start). So $100
in 1980 (CPI 82.4) is $100 × 313.689 ÷ 82.4 = $380.69 in 2024 money. The
total price change is that ratio minus one, and the average annual inflation rate is the
compound annual growth rate (CPI(target) ÷ CPI(start))^(1 ÷ years) − 1, which
works out at 3.08% a year over those 44 years. Buying power change is the mirror image:
a 1980 dollar buys 73.73% less in 2024.
The year-by-year table shows the index, your amount restated in each year's prices and that
year's inflation rate, and downloads as CSV. The second calculator projects forward at a
rate you choose, using future = amount × (1 + rate)^years, for horizons past
the end of the table or for other countries. Figures are annual averages, so they smooth
out month-to-month swings and will differ slightly from a month-specific CPI lookup, and
the CPI is a national basket rather than your personal spending. Everything runs in your
browser with the index table embedded in the page — no sign-up, no ads and nothing sent to
a server.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate inflation between two years?
Use the ratio of the price index in the two years: value in the target year = amount × CPI(target) ÷ CPI(start). This calculator uses CPI-U annual averages published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, where 1980 = 82.4 and 2024 = 313.689. So $100 in 1980 is $100 × 313.689 ÷ 82.4 = $380.69 in 2024 money — a total price rise of 280.69%. The average annual inflation rate is the compound annual growth rate of that ratio, (313.689 ÷ 82.4)^(1 ÷ 44) − 1 = 3.08% a year, not the total divided by the number of years.
What is the CPI and why does this tool use annual averages?
The CPI-U is the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, the standard US measure of the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services, indexed so that the 1982–84 average equals 100. This page embeds the annual average for every year from 1913 to 2024, which is the series used for year-to-year comparisons in official statistics and news reporting. Annual averages smooth out monthly swings, so a figure here can differ by a few tenths of a percent from a month-specific lookup such as January-to-January. The CPI is also a national basket: your own inflation depends on rent, fuel and food shares that may not match it.
How much buying power has the dollar lost, and how do I look past 2024?
Buying power is the inverse of the price ratio. Between 1980 and 2024 prices rose by a factor of 3.807, so a dollar buys 1 ÷ 3.807 = 26.27% of what it did — a 73.73% loss of buying power. Since 1913 the loss is over 96%. For years beyond the end of the CPI table, or for other countries, use the second calculator on this page: it applies future = amount × (1 + rate)^years with a rate you choose, and also shows what a fixed amount will be worth in today's money after that many years of inflation.