Inflation, rule of 72 & future value calculators
What is an amount from one year worth in another? Pick two years between 1913 and 2025 to compare prices with the U.S. Consumer Price Index, one growth ring for every year in between.
$100 in 2000 has the same buying power as
$186.96
in 2025, by the CPI-U annual averages.
Between 2000 and 2025 prices rose fastest in 2022 (+8.0%) and fell in 1 year.
| Year | CPI-U | Same buying power |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 172.2 | $100.00 |
| 2010 | 218.056 | $126.63 |
| 2020 | 258.811 | $150.30 |
| 2025 | 321.943 | $186.96 |
Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, series CUUR0000SA0, annual averages 1913–2025.
It scales the amount by the ratio of two Consumer Price Index values. The index is the CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items (BLS series CUUR0000SA0), the measure most often quoted as "inflation". Each year uses its annual average, so the result compares typical prices across whole years.
Value in year B = amount × CPI(B) ÷ CPI(A)Average yearly inflation = (CPI(B) ÷ CPI(A))^(1 ÷ years) − 1
The tree rings draw the same history: one ring per year from the inner year outwards, wider when prices rose faster, red at 5% or more, and dashed when the average price level fell, as in 2009 and the early 1930s.
Example: $100 in 2000 (CPI 172.2) is $100 × 321.943 ÷ 172.2 = $186.96 in 2025, a rise in prices of about 87%, or 2.5% a year.
Annual averages from 1913 to 2025, fetched from the BLS Public Data API on 30 October 2026. BLS published no October 2025 index because of the 2025 lapse in appropriations, so its 2025 average covers the other eleven months. The latest monthly index at that point was September 2026 (336.940).
Four more calculators for money and time.
What your money will lose at an inflation rate you choose, or has lost since a past year.
The quick doubling-time rule against the exact answer, with the rules of 70 and 69.3.
Lump sums and regular payments, at the start or end of each period, year by year.
The Fisher equation, exact and approximate, with inflation typed in or taken from CPI history.
Two free services for the online side of money research.
Budget templates, inflation reports and savings newsletters often ask for an email address before you can download them. CleanTempMail gives you a free temporary inbox straight away, with no sign-up, a random or custom address on hundreds of domains, and messages deleted automatically after 3 days.
Get the file without adding to your everyday inbox.
Get a free temporary inboxSent a link to a "high-interest" savings or investment site you have never heard of? WebTraceCheck's free DNS and domain lookup shows the details behind a site's domain, and its disposable cloud browser opens unfamiliar links on an isolated desktop that is deleted after each session.
Nothing to install, with free time every day.
Check a website with WebTraceCheckCheck which months it compares. This one uses annual averages; a calculator that compares single months, such as a January with a December, can differ by a few percent for the same pair of years.
Not exactly. The CPI-U follows a broad basket bought by urban consumers. Your own mix of rent, fuel, food and fees may have risen faster or slower.
Yes. Put the later year first to see what an amount would have been in an earlier year's dollars.
2025 is the latest year with a full annual average. The months of 2026 are not blended into a part-year figure.