This calculator is for the United States and the US dollar; the index and the results do not apply to other countries, which publish their own price indexes. The Consumer Price Index tracks the price of a fixed basket of goods and services bought by urban households. Dividing the index for one year by the index for another gives the change in the general price level, which is what "adjusting for inflation" means. This calculator uses the annual average CPI-U from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for every year since 1913.
How it is calculated
- Equivalent amount = amount × (CPI in target year ÷ CPI in starting year).
- Total price change = that ratio minus one.
- Average annual inflation = ratio1/years − 1, the compound rate that gets from one index to the other.
Example
$1,000 in 2000, when the CPI averaged 172.2, is equivalent to about $1,873 in 2025 with the CPI near 322.5. Prices rose 87% over 25 years, an average of about 2.5% a year. Put the other way, $1,000 in 2025 buys what $534 bought in 2000.
What the CPI does and does not capture
The index is an average across housing, food, transport, medical care, recreation, education and more, weighted by what households spend. Your personal inflation differs: a renter in a big city, a retiree with high medical costs and a rural driver each experience different price changes. The CPI also adjusts for quality: a 2025 phone is not the same product as a 2005 phone, and the index tries to price the improvement separately. Over long spans, the basket itself changes, so comparisons across many decades are indicative rather than exact.
Annual average vs monthly
This calculator uses annual averages, which is standard for comparing years. For contracts indexed to a specific month (rent escalations, pension adjustments) use the BLS monthly series. The latest year shown is a provisional average until the year is complete.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate inflation between two years?
Divide the CPI of the later year by the CPI of the earlier year. A ratio of 1.87 means prices rose 87%. Multiply any dollar amount from the earlier year by that ratio to express it in later-year dollars.
What was the inflation rate last year?
The annual average change is shown in the year-by-year table. For 2024 the CPI rose about 2.9% over 2023, down from 4.1% in 2023 and 8.0% in 2022.
How much was $1 in 1950 worth today?
About $13 in 2025 dollars: the CPI went from 24.1 to roughly 322.5, a thirteenfold increase. Enter 1 and the years above to see the exact figure.
What does 1982–84 = 100 mean?
The CPI-U is scaled so that the average price level in 1982–1984 equals 100. A value of 322 means prices are 3.22 times their 1982–84 level. The base does not affect ratios between years.
Is this the same as the cost of living?
Close, but not identical. The CPI measures price changes for a fixed basket; cost-of-living measures how spending changes as people substitute cheaper goods. The BLS also publishes a chained CPI (C-CPI-U) that accounts for substitution and rises a little more slowly.
Sources
- BLS: Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) annual averages
- BLS: CPI Inflation Calculator (monthly)
- Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis: Consumer Price Index, 1913–
By Calcelate Team. Formula from the sources above.
- 2026-09-14 · Formula and texts checked
- 2026-09-14 · Reference data as of this date