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Inflation Calculator
Convert a dollar amount between any two years since 1913 using the official Consumer Price Index — what $100 then buys now, what today's dollars were worth then, and the average inflation rate over any span.
Short answer
Value in today's dollars = amount × (CPI now ÷ CPI then), using the official Consumer Price Index. $100 from 2000 is worth about $187 today; from 1980, about $390 — prices roughly double at 3% inflation every 24 years. Enter any amount and any two years since 1913 below, in either direction.
$100.00 in 2000 is worth, in 2025
$187.07
- Price multiplier
- 1.87×
- Average inflation over the span
- 2.5%/yr
Common years and the full rate history
What $100 from past years is worth in 2025 dollars
| Year | $100 then, in 2025 dollars | Average inflation since |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | $1,336.65 | 3.5%/yr |
| 1960 | $1,088.28 | 3.7%/yr |
| 1970 | $830.24 | 3.9%/yr |
| 1980 | $390.94 | 3.1%/yr |
| 1990 | $246.47 | 2.6%/yr |
| 2000 | $187.07 | 2.5%/yr |
| 2005 | $164.94 | 2.5%/yr |
| 2010 | $147.73 | 2.6%/yr |
| 2015 | $135.91 | 3.1%/yr |
| 2020 | $124.47 | 4.5%/yr |
Computed from BLS CPI-U annual averages. CPI measures a consumption basket — individual categories (housing, college, medical care) have moved very differently.
US annual inflation rate, last 10 years
| Year | Inflation rate |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 1.3% |
| 2017 | 2.1% |
| 2018 | 2.4% |
| 2019 | 1.8% |
| 2020 | 1.2% |
| 2021 | 4.7% |
| 2022 | 8.0% |
| 2023 | 4.1% |
| 2024 | 3.0% |
| 2025 | 2.7% |
Year-over-year change in the CPI-U annual average. The full series back to 1914 is on the rates page.
Why adjust for inflation at all?
Because unadjusted dollars lie. A $12,000 salary in 1970 sounds tiny and was actually comfortable; a record-breaking box office number usually just reflects ticket prices; and "the market hit an all-time high" means less when the dollar it's measured in shrank. Converting through the CPI puts every figure in the same units — today's buying power — which is the only way decades apart can be compared honestly. The rates page shows the year-by-year history behind the averages, including the spikes and the rare deflations.
How we calculate this
Straight ratios of the official Consumer Price Index:
- Value conversion. amount × (CPI in the target year ÷ CPI in the source year). The same formula works forward or backward in time.
- Annual inflation rate. each calendar year's rate is that year's CPI annual average ÷ the previous year's, minus 1.
- Average over a span. the geometric mean — (CPI ratio)^(1/years) − 1 — so the average compounds back to exactly the observed change.
Assumptions
- CPI-U annual averages (1982–84 = 100), the headline urban-consumer index; monthly precision is not modelled.
- The latest year is the most recent complete annual average — the BLS publishes each year's figure the following January.
- CPI tracks a broad consumption basket; specific categories (rent, tuition, medical care, tech) inflate at very different rates.
- Historical CPI before 1978 is the BLS's reconstructed continuation of the series; it is the standard used by every inflation calculator.
Sources
Last reviewed: July 22, 2026
Frequently asked questions
How is inflation calculated between two years?+
By the ratio of the Consumer Price Index: value in target-year dollars = amount × (CPI of target year ÷ CPI of source year). The CPI is the Bureau of Labor Statistics' measure of what a typical urban consumption basket costs, published monthly and averaged per year. This calculator uses those official annual averages back to 1913, the first year of the series.
What is $100 in 1980 worth today?+
Roughly $390 in today's dollars — prices are almost four times higher than in 1980, an average of about 3% inflation a year compounded over four decades. The per-year pages on this site show the same conversion for 1950 through 2020, and the calculator converts any amount between any two years.
What has the average US inflation rate been?+
About 3% a year over the last century, but with huge variation: double-digit years around the World Wars and the 1970s oil shocks (peaking over 13% in 1980), actual deflation in the early 1930s and briefly in 2009, a calm 1–3% from the mid-1990s through 2020, then the 2022 spike to 8% — the highest since 1981. At 3% a year, prices double roughly every 24 years.
Why does my personal inflation feel higher than the CPI?+
Because the CPI is a weighted average of everything urban consumers buy, and nobody buys the average basket. If your spending skews toward rent, childcare, education, or medical care — categories that have outrun headline CPI for decades — your personal rate is genuinely higher; heavy spenders on electronics and clothing have seen the opposite. The CPI is the right tool for comparing dollars across time, not for auditing your grocery bill.
Can I convert today's dollars back to a past year?+
Yes — the same CPI ratio works in both directions, so the calculator happily deflates modern amounts: today's $100 is equivalent to about $12 in 1970 buying power. Backward conversion is what makes old salaries, house prices and movie tickets comparable: a $30,000 salary in 1990 corresponds to roughly $74,000 today.
How current is the data, and where does it come from?+
The series is the BLS CPI-U annual average for every year from 1913 through the most recent complete year, exactly as published (1982–84 = 100 base). The BLS finalizes each year's annual average in mid-January of the following year, and this tool is updated when that lands. Monthly-level precision — 'January 1990 to March 2020' — is deliberately out of scope; annual averages are the standard for value comparisons.
Based on BLS CPI-U annual averages, the standard for dollar-value comparisons; individual spending categories inflate at different rates. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.