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Inflation Calculator
A dollar is a rumor that changes every year. Enter any amount and two years, and the ledger converts it on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ own price index, 1913 to today — then tells you whether your paycheck kept up.
Between 1990 and 2025, each dollar lost more than half its buying power. The ladder below shows where it went.
A raise that trails prices is a pay cut with better branding. This one trails by about eight points.
Built on the CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted (1982–84 = 100). 2025 is the average of the eleven months BLS published; October 2025 was never collected during the federal funding lapse. 2026 uses the September 2026 index (336.940), the latest available. Estimates only — your spending basket is not the average basket. Not financial advice.
How the math works
One formula, no opinions: later-year dollars equal the amount times the later index divided by the earlier index. For $100 in 1990 to 2025 dollars, that is 100 × 321.943 ÷ 130.7 = $246.32. The cumulative change is the same ratio minus one (146.3%), and the average yearly rate is the ratio raised to one over the number of years, minus one (2.61% a year). Run it backwards and it works too: $7.25 today is $4.83 in 2009 dollars.
| $1 in… | is worth, in 2025 dollars | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | $10.88 | A dime then bought what a dollar buys now. |
| 1970 | $8.30 | The 1970s took nearly a fifth off every decade. |
| 1980 | $3.91 | Volcker-era money, pre-disinflation. |
| 1990 | $2.46 | The great moderation, in one number. |
| 2000 | $1.87 | The quiet decade before the surge. |
| 2010 | $1.48 | Post-crisis, pre-pandemic calm. |
| 2020 | $1.24 | Five years later: $1.30 by September 2026. |
The index is the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, the series most people mean by “inflation.” It tracks the price of a fixed basket of goods and services across 75 urban areas, from about 6,000 housing units and roughly 23,000 retail and service establishments. Annual figures are averages of the monthly readings — except 2025, where the October reading was never collected.
Two honest limits
First, the basket is average by construction: if your spending is mostly rent and groceries, your personal inflation has run hotter than the headline, because shelter and food have outpaced the average in recent years. Second, quality change is adjusted out — a 2026 laptop at 1990 prices is not really comparable, and the BLS knows it. The ledger converts the dollar, not the experience.
- How does an inflation calculator work?
- It divides the price index of the later year by the index of the earlier year and multiplies: $100 in 1990 × (321.943 ÷ 130.7) = $246.32 in 2025 dollars. Same data and formula the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses in its own calculator.
- What price index does this calculator use?
- The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted, on the 1982–84 = 100 base. Years 1913–2025 use annual averages; 2026 uses the September 2026 index, the latest BLS has published.
- Why is the 2025 average built from eleven months?
- Federal funding lapsed from October 1 to November 12, 2025, and the BLS suspended price collection for the duration. No October 2025 index exists. BLS built the 2025 annual average from the eleven published monthly values, which average to 321.943.
- What does the “real” change mean in the pay check?
- Nominal change divided by the change in prices. A $40,000 salary in 2015 rising to $50,000 in 2025 is a 25% nominal raise but about an 8% real pay cut, because prices rose 35.8% over the same years.
- Is this the same math as the BLS inflation calculator?
- Yes — same index, same formula. The ledger adds what the BLS page does not: the did-your-pay-keep-up check, the decade ladder, and the verdict stamps.
Keep reading
- What is inflation, and how does the CPI actually work?The basket, the base year, and the 23,000 cash registers.
- Buying power through the decadesWhat $1 bought in 1960, 1980, 2000, and now.
- Did your salary keep up with inflation?The 3.5× productivity gap and the $1.60 minimum wage.
- Inflation vs. your savingsWhat five quiet years do to money that sits still.
- Gas prices and inflation in 2026$4.33 a gallon, 158 days above $4, and the one-third of September’s CPI.