Inflation Calculator

A dollar today buys less than a dollar did a decade ago, and it will buy less still a decade from now — inflation is the reason “how much money do I need” is always a moving target. This tool has two modes: a historical calculator that uses actual U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) data to show what a past amount of money is worth in today’s dollars, and a future-projection calculator that estimates what today’s money will be worth (or what something will cost) years from now at an inflation rate you choose.

Amount ($) In the Year Is Equivalent To, In the Year

How the Historical Calculator Works

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ primary measure of how prices for a broad basket of goods and services change over time. To convert a dollar amount from one year to another, this calculator multiplies your amount by the ratio of the two years’ annual-average CPI-U index values. It’s the same method used by most official government inflation calculators, and it’s grounded in real published index data rather than a flat assumed rate.

Why the Future Projection Uses an Assumed Rate

Nobody knows future inflation with certainty, so the projection mode asks you to supply an assumed annual rate instead of pretending to predict one. The long-run U.S. average since 1913 has been roughly 3% per year, which is a reasonable default, but inflation has run both well above (the early 1980s, 2021–2022) and well below that figure for extended stretches. Try running the projection at 2%, 3%, and 5% side by side to see how sensitive long-term plans — like a retirement number — are to this one assumption.

A Few Practical Notes

CPI-U measures a national average basket of goods and services — your personal inflation rate can run higher or lower depending on what you actually spend money on (healthcare and education have historically outpaced CPI, for example, while electronics have often deflated). The historical dataset here uses annual-average index values for selected benchmark years plus every year from 2015 onward; figures are sourced from published BLS-derived data. Treat both modes as planning estimates, not precise forecasts or official government figures.

Freedom Wealth Lab Apps provides general educational tools, not personalized financial advice. Read our full Disclaimer and Affiliate Disclosure. Historical data source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U, as compiled by cpichart.com.