Calculator and Guide for Inflation
What does inflation mean?
Inflation is when the prices of goods and services go up over time, which makes money less valuable. When inflation happens, each unit of money can buy fewer things than it could before.
Policy can have an effect on inflation. When a government or central bank adds more money to the economy without also increasing the amount of goods and services produced, the value of each unit of money usually goes down. Through fiscal and monetary policy, most developed economies try to keep inflation at a steady rate of 2–3% a year. Learn more about how this compares to other nations in our Inflation Rate by Country guide.
What the Inflation Calculator Does
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ historical Consumer Price Index (CPI) data is used by our Inflation Calculator. Just type in an amount, the year it was made, and the year you want to change it to. The tool will figure out how much money you can buy with the same amount of money based on real inflation rates.
We also have two more tools to offer:
Forward Flat Rate Inflation Calculator:Â This tool changes a current amount to a future amount based on a set number of years and a fixed annual inflation rate.
Backward Flat Rate Inflation Calculator:Â This tool takes a future amount and brings it back to today’s value using a fixed annual rate.
A 3% inflation rate is a common starting point for the U.S. and many other developed countries. However, the rate can be changed to fit a specific situation.
For other financial planning tools, explore our Finance & Money Calculators or try our Compound Interest Calculator to see how your savings can grow over time.
Inflation Data for the U.S. from 2013 to 2025
The table below shows the monthly and average annual inflation rates for the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses CPI data to make these calculations.
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3.00% | 2.82% | 2.39% | 2.31% | 2.35% | 2.67% | 2.70% | 2.92% | 3.01% | Â | 2.74% | 2.68% | 2.63% |
| 2024 | 3.09% | 3.15% | 3.48% | 3.36% | 3.27% | 2.97% | 2.89% | 2.53% | 2.44% | 2.60% | 2.75% | 2.89% | 2.95% |
| 2023 | 6.41% | 6.04% | 4.98% | 4.93% | 4.05% | 2.97% | 3.18% | 3.67% | 3.70% | 3.24% | 3.14% | 3.35% | 4.12% |
| 2022 | 7.48% | 7.87% | 8.54% | 8.26% | 8.58% | 9.06% | 8.52% | 8.26% | 8.20% | 7.75% | 7.11% | 6.45% | 8.00% |
| 2021 | 1.40% | 1.68% | 2.62% | 4.16% | 4.99% | 5.39% | 5.37% | 5.25% | 5.39% | 6.22% | 6.81% | 7.04% | 4.70% |
| 2020 | 2.49% | 2.33% | 1.54% | 0.33% | 0.12% | 0.65% | 0.99% | 1.31% | 1.37% | 1.18% | 1.17% | 1.36% | 1.24% |
| 2019 | 1.55% | 1.52% | 1.86% | 2.00% | 1.79% | 1.65% | 1.81% | 1.75% | 1.71% | 1.76% | 2.05% | 2.29% | 1.81% |
| 2018 | 2.07% | 2.21% | 2.36% | 2.46% | 2.80% | 2.87% | 2.95% | 2.70% | 2.28% | 2.52% | 2.18% | 1.91% | 2.44% |
| 2017 | 2.50% | 2.74% | 2.38% | 2.20% | 1.87% | 1.63% | 1.73% | 1.94% | 2.23% | 2.04% | 2.20% | 2.11% | 2.13% |
| 2016 | 1.37% | 1.02% | 0.85% | 1.13% | 1.02% | 1.01% | 0.84% | 1.06% | 1.46% | 1.64% | 1.69% | 2.07% | 1.26% |
| 2015 | -0.09% | -0.03% | -0.07% | -0.20% | -0.04% | 0.12% | 0.17% | 0.20% | -0.04% | 0.17% | 0.50% | 0.73% | 0.12% |
| 2014 | 1.58% | 1.13% | 1.51% | 1.95% | 2.13% | 2.07% | 1.99% | 1.70% | 1.66% | 1.66% | 1.32% | 0.76% | 1.62% |
| 2013 | 1.59% | 1.98% | 1.47% | 1.06% | 1.36% | 1.75% | 1.96% | 1.52% | 1.18% | 0.96% | 1.24% | 1.50% | 1.47% |
(Full historical dataset available back to 1913.)
How to Figure Out Inflation
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to figure out how much inflation is happening in the US. CPI looks at how much prices have changed on average for a typical basket of goods and services that city dwellers buy.
Calculation Example
To figure out how much prices went up from January 2016 to January 2017:
CPI for January 2016:Â 236.916
CPI for January 2017:Â 242.839
Step 1:Â Find the difference.
242.839 – 236.916 = 5.923
Step 2:Â Use the earlier CPI to find the answer.
5.923 / 236.916 ≈ 0.025 or 2.5%
If the earlier CPI is higher than the later one, it means that prices are going down.
For other useful calculations, try our Percentage Calculator or Fraction Ratio Calculator.
Problems with Measuring Inflation
CPI is the standard measure, but it has some flaws:
Quality adjustments:Â A rise in price may not be due to inflation, but rather to better product quality.
Price volatility:Â Changes in the prices of food or oil can make short-term inflation readings less accurate.
Inflation affects different groups in different ways (for example, rising gas prices affect drivers more than people who work from home).
Other measures, called alternative indices, are available for certain purposes. Some examples are:
CPIH:Â Includes costs of housing
CPIY:Â Doesn’t include indirect taxes
CPILFENS:Â Leaves out food and energy to get a more stable reading
What Causes Inflation
There are three main types of inflation that economists talk about:
1. Inflation that pushes costs up
Consumers pay for higher production costs, like wages or raw materials. For example, higher oil prices around the world make it more expensive to move goods and make things.
2. Inflation from Demand-Pull
Prices go up when demand from consumers is greater than what an economy can make. More money is chasing the same amount of goods.
3. Inflation that is built in
This is also known as “hangover inflation.” It happens when inflation from the past affects what people expect to happen in the future. To keep up with rising costs, workers want higher pay, and businesses raise prices to cover those costs. This creates a cycle that keeps going.
Two Main Ways of Thinking
Keynesian Economics:Â This school of thought says that the government should control demand by spending and taxing. When demand is higher than supply, inflation happens.
Monetarism, which was started by Milton Friedman, says that inflation is always a monetary thing. The Equation of Exchange (MV = PY) shows that when the economy is stable and money moves quickly, changes in the money supply have a direct effect on prices.
Modern policy frequently integrates both methodologies.
Deflation vs. Hyperinflation
Hyperinflation
Hyperinflation is when the value of money drops very quickly and very badly. This usually happens when the money supply grows a lot without the economy growing.
Some well-known examples are:
Germany (1920s)Â printed money to pay for war damages, which made prices go up every few days.
Ukraine (in the early 1990s) and Brazil (from 1980 to 1994) – Both countries went through long periods of hyperinflation, which made people use foreign currencies or stockpile physical goods.
Hyperinflation wipes out savings and makes societies less stable.
Deflation
Deflation is when prices go down in general. Deflation may seem like a good thing because prices are going down, but it usually makes people less likely to spend money because they want prices to go down even more. This lowers business income, causes layoffs, and can start a deflationary spiral, like what happened during the Great Depression.
People think that deflation is worse than moderate inflation.
How to Keep Inflation from Getting Worse
Inflation mostly hurts people who have money sitting around. If inflation is 2.5% a year, $50,000 in a non-interest-bearing account loses $1,250 in real value over the course of a year.
Some common ways to keep your buying power are:
Real Estate:Â Property values and rental income usually go up when inflation goes up.
Stocks and Funds:Â Over the long term, stocks can beat inflation.
Commodities are things like gold, silver, oil, and agricultural goods that have value on their own and often go up in value when prices rise. Check our Gold Price Calculator for daily updates.
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS)Â are U.S. government bonds whose principal value changes with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). There are bonds like these all over the world, such as:
UK: gilts that are linked to an index
Mexico: Udibonos
Germany: The Bund Index
For more tools to help with financial planning, explore: