Inflation Calculator
Convert dollars from any past year into today's money, using the official CPI-U series
"Inflation Calculator" Calculator
How to Work Out What Old Money Is Worth Today
What this calculator does
It converts a sum of money from a past year into today's prices. The question it answers — "what would that be worth now?" — is the one people ask about an old salary, a house price in a family story, a fine printed in a newspaper archive, or the cost of something their grandparents remember.
The index behind the answer
The conversion uses the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It tracks what a fixed basket of goods and services costs over time, and it is the standard series for this kind of comparison.
- Each past year is represented by the annual average BLS publishes for it — the figure from the agency, not one derived here from monthly values.
- "Today" means the most recent published month, currently July 2026.
- The formula is a ratio: amount × (today's index ÷ that year's index).
Years run from 1913, where the series begins, to 2025 — every year for which BLS has published an annual average. A new one appears here once the agency closes it, usually in January.
Dollars from a given year
- $100 in 1913 · all inflation since 1913
- $100 in 1930 · all inflation since 1930
- $100 in 1950 · all inflation since 1950
- $100 in 1960 · all inflation since 1960
- $100 in 1970 · all inflation since 1970
- $100 in 1980 · all inflation since 1980
- $100 in 1990 · all inflation since 1990
- $100 in 2000 · all inflation since 2000
- $100 in 2010 · all inflation since 2010
- $100 in 2020 · all inflation since 2020
What the CPI will not tell you
The index is an average over a national basket. It is the right instrument for "what was this sum worth", and the wrong one for any single thing you might have bought with it. Over the last half-century the price of tuition, housing and medical care rose far faster than the average, while clothing, televisions and long-distance calls rose much more slowly or fell outright. A conversion says what the money was worth in general — not what any particular purchase would cost.
Two more limits worth keeping in mind. The CPI-U covers urban consumers, who are most but not all of the population. And the further back the comparison reaches, the more the basket itself has changed: comparing 1913 prices to today's means comparing two ways of living, not just two price levels.
See Also
- Inflation Rate Since a Given Year - Cumulative and average US inflation from any year to today
About "Inflation Calculator" Calculator
This calculator answers one question: what a sum of money from a past year is worth in today's prices. Enter the amount and the year it was spent or earned, and the result is the equivalent in dollars as of July 2026.
Enter the amount: the sum in the dollars of the earlier year.
Enter the year: any year from 1913 to 2025.
Read the result: the equivalent amount today, the total price growth over the span, and the average yearly rate that adds up to it.
So $100 in 1960 has the same buying power as $1,128.10 today — prices rose 1,028.1% over those 66 years, which averages 3.74% a year.
The figures come from the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), the series the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes for exactly this purpose. Each past year is represented by the annual average BLS itself publishes for it, and today by the most recent published month, July 2026. Because the whole answer is a function of that published table, it does not drift from day to day; it changes when BLS releases a new month.
One limit worth naming: the CPI measures a national basket of goods and services. It is the right instrument for "what was this worth", and the wrong one for any single item, because rents, tuition, computers and eggs have not moved together.
For example, it can help you find out what is $100 in 1960 worth today? (The answer is: $1,128.10).