The Inflation Calculator shows how the purchasing power of money changes over time. Enter an amount and a time period to see what that money is worth in today’s dollars — or what today’s dollars will be worth in the future.

How to Use This Calculator

1. Choose Past → Today to find today’s equivalent of a historical amount, or Today → Future to project purchasing power loss.
2. Enter the amount, years, and the average annual inflation rate (3.5% is a reasonable US historical average).
3. Click Calculate.

What Inflation Means for Your Savings

Inflation erodes the real value of cash held idle. At 3.5% annual inflation, $1,000 today will have the purchasing power of only $497 in 20 years — your money loses nearly half its real value. This is why financial advisors emphasize investing rather than holding cash: savings accounts that pay less than the inflation rate are effectively losing money in real terms.

This is also why Social Security benefits and many pensions include cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) — to prevent retirement income from being eroded by inflation over a 20–30 year retirement.

Historical US Inflation Rates

• 1970s–80s: Very high inflation, peaking at ~14.5% in 1980
• 1990s–2019: Moderate, averaging ~2.5%
• 2021–2022: Spiked to 7–9% due to post-pandemic supply/demand disruptions
• Long-term US average: ~3.3% since 1914

Frequently Asked Questions

What inflation rate should I use?

For general planning, 2.5–3.5% is a reasonable estimate. The Federal Reserve targets 2% annually. For healthcare-specific planning, use a higher rate (~5–7%) since healthcare inflation has historically outpaced general inflation.

Can I use real CPI data instead of an estimate?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the official CPI data at bls.gov. You can calculate the actual inflation between two years and enter that average rate here for more precision.