Inflation Calculator

BLS CPI-U annual averages — the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, the series behind essentially every 'adjusted for inflation' figure you read. The full 1913–present table is embedded in the page; the current year uses a preliminary estimate until BLS finalizes its annual average.

CPI tracks a weighted basket of average urban spending. If your budget skews toward categories that outran the index — rent in a hot market, college tuition, healthcare, childcare — your personal rate genuinely was higher. Electronics and many manufactured goods ran below the index, dragging the average down.

The rule of 72: divide 72 by the annual rate to get the doubling time of prices — equivalently, the halving time of money. At the Fed's 2% target, purchasing power halves in about 35 years; at 1970s-style 7%, in about 10. That's the quiet argument for not holding long-term savings in cash.

Yes — pick any two years in either order. Backwards conversion answers 'what would this feel like then': $50,000 today maps to roughly $6,000 in 1970, which is how you compare a salary offer against what your parents made. The math is symmetric: it's just the ratio of the two years' index values.