How is the inflation calculation done?

It multiplies your amount by the ratio of the two dates' Consumer Price Index values. If the index doubled between them, a dollar buys half as much, so the amount doubles. Pick a year and the figure used is that year's average of its monthly index values; pick a month and it is that single print.

How far back does the data go?

To 1913 for all items, the CPI-U series published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Individual categories start later — Airline fares only from 1989 — and the date picker narrows to match whichever category you choose.

Can I calculate inflation for a specific month?

Yes. Switch “Compare” to Exact months and each date becomes a date picker. CPI is published once a month, so any day you pick is read as the month it falls in — 17 October 1973 and 1 October 1973 give the same figure. The default, Annual averages, is the basis published inflation tables use, and it is what the BLS inflation calculator reports when you give it a year.

Where does this data come from?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, via FRED. All items is the CPI-U series CPIAUCNS (not seasonally adjusted), the same series BLS's own calculator uses. The 20 categories are its published components. BLS documents the programme at bls.gov/cpi and publishes the underlying tables at bls.gov/cpi/data.htm.

Why doesn't this match what I remember things costing?

CPI tracks a national average basket, and individual categories move very differently — college tuition and medical care have risen far faster than the average, while televisions and clothing have fallen in real terms. Change the "spending on" dropdown to price your amount on any of 20 CPI components instead of the average. Your own inflation rate still depends on what you actually buy and where you live.

Inflation calculator

What any amount of money is worth at any other date, on official CPI data back to 1913.

Amount

InIs worth, inSpending on

Compare

Since

The calculator's controls run in your browser and need JavaScript. The full year-by-year table is at inflation rate by year, and the figures below are for $100 from 1970.

$100 in 1970 is $854 in 2026

Prices rose 754.2% over those 56 years — an average of 3.90% a year. Put the other way, $100 in 2026 buys what $11.71 bought in 1970.

2026 is a partial year — averaged over the 8 months of data available.

What $100 from 1970 was worth in each later year

Annual average CPI-U

$200$400$600$800

197019801990200020102020

$854

2026

$100$854

The slope is the inflation rate — steep through the 1970s and early 1980s, close to flat in the low-inflation decades that followed.

In 1970	Worth in 2026	Increase
$1	$8.54	+754%
$5	$42.71	+754%
$10	$85.42	+754%
$20	$171	+754%
$50	$427	+754%
$100	$854	+754%
$500	$4,271	+754%
$1,000	$8,542	+754%
$5,000	$42,712	+754%
$10,000	$85,423	+754%
$100,000	$854,231	+754%
$1,000,000	$8,542,315	+754%

How this works

“All items” uses the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, not seasonally adjusted (CPI-U, NSA) — the same series the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses in its own calculator, so results match. This page covers 1913–2026 for all items and offers 20 spending categories beside it.

Dates are read as whole months. CPI is published once a month, for the month as a whole — there is no figure for a particular day. So when you pick a date, the calculation uses the month that date falls in: 1 October 1973, 17 October 1973 and 31 October 1973 all give October 1973's index. Nothing is rounded to the start or end of a month, because a month is the smallest thing measured. On the Annual averages setting a date names its whole year instead, and the figure is the mean of that year's monthly index values — the basis every published inflation table uses, including ours. A year with fewer than twelve prints is labelled partial: the current year has only the months published so far, and BLS published no October 2025 at all.

The 20 spending categories are the CPI components, carried seasonally adjusted (the CUSR series) while all-items is not. Over the annual averages this page prices on, the two bases agree to within rounding; within a single year they can differ, because seasonal adjustment is precisely what moves a month away from its raw print. Categories also begin at different dates — BLS started them at different times, so Airline fares only goes back to 1989 — and the date picker narrows to whichever you choose rather than returning a figure it cannot support.

CPI measures a fixed basket of household goods and services nationally, so it will not match your personal experience: rent in your city, your health plan and your grocery habits all diverge from the average basket. It is also not a wage or investment comparison — it says what things cost, not what you could have earned.

FAQ#

How is the inflation calculation done?: It multiplies your amount by the ratio of the two dates' Consumer Price Index values. If the index doubled between them, a dollar buys half as much, so the amount doubles. Pick a year and the figure used is that year's average of its monthly index values; pick a month and it is that single print.
How far back does the data go?: To 1913 for all items, the CPI-U series published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Individual categories start later — Airline fares only from 1989 — and the date picker narrows to match whichever category you choose.
Can I calculate inflation for a specific month?: Yes. Switch “Compare” to Exact months and each date becomes a date picker. CPI is published once a month, so any day you pick is read as the month it falls in — 17 October 1973 and 1 October 1973 give the same figure. The default, Annual averages, is the basis published inflation tables use, and it is what the BLS inflation calculator reports when you give it a year.
Where does this data come from?: The Bureau of Labor Statistics, via FRED. All items is the CPI-U series CPIAUCNS (not seasonally adjusted), the same series BLS's own calculator uses. The 20 categories are its published components. BLS documents the programme at bls.gov/cpi and publishes the underlying tables at bls.gov/cpi/data.htm.
Why doesn't this match what I remember things costing?: CPI tracks a national average basket, and individual categories move very differently — college tuition and medical care have risen far faster than the average, while televisions and clothing have fallen in real terms. Change the "spending on" dropdown to price your amount on any of 20 CPI components instead of the average. Your own inflation rate still depends on what you actually buy and where you live.