Inflation Calculator
See what your money is really worth. Turn a past dollar amount into today's money using official CPI data back to 1913 — or look ahead and see what today's cash will buy years from now, and how much you'd need just to keep pace.
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How inflation changes what money is worth
Inflation is the gradual rise in the prices of the things people buy. As prices climb, each dollar buys a little less — its purchasing power falls. The standard yardstick is the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), which tracks the cost of a typical basket of goods and services over time.
This calculator works in both directions:
- Past money, today's worth: it scales an old amount by the change in the CPI — equivalent = amount × CPI(now) ÷ CPI(then) — so you can see that $100 in 2000 takes about $185 to match today.
- Today's money, future worth: at an inflation rate you choose, it shows both the nominal amount you'd need later to keep the same buying power, and how much that buying power erodes if you simply hold the cash.
The quiet lesson is the same either way: idle cash loses ground. A rule of 72 shortcut shows it fast — divide 72 by the inflation rate to estimate how many years it takes for prices to double. At 3% that's about 24 years; at 6%, only 12. Keeping pace means earning at least the inflation rate on your savings.
Common questions
- How do you figure out what past money is worth today?
- Multiply the old amount by the ratio of today's Consumer Price Index to the index in the original year. This tool uses CPI-U annual averages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, going back to 1913, and also shows the cumulative inflation and the average annual rate over the span.
- What inflation rate should I assume for the future?
- The Federal Reserve targets about 2% a year, while the long-run U.S. historical average is closer to 3%. There's no way to know the future rate, so the calculator lets you pick. Try a few rates to see how sensitive the result is — small differences compound into large gaps over decades.
- Is anything saved or sent anywhere?
- No. Every number runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded, stored, or shared — and you can export the full year-by-year table to CSV with one click.
Outpacing inflation starts with a plan
Taly auto-splits every paycheck across your budget — so the money meant to grow actually gets put to work instead of sitting idle and losing ground. Your paycheck does the math.