📉 Calculator Tools

Inflation Calculator

See what any dollar amount from 19132025 is worth in another year's money, using historical US CPI data — entirely in your browser.

Convert money across time

Based on approximate US CPI-U annual averages (BLS). Educational estimates.

$100 in 1990

$246.37

in 2025 dollars

Total change

+146.37%

Avg / year

2.61%

Purchasing power flows the other way too: $100 of 2025 money bought only $40.59 worth of goods in 1990 terms.

About this calculator

What inflation quietly does to a dollar

A dollar is not a fixed unit of value — it is a unit whose value drifts every year, and over decades the drift compounds into transformation. This calculator converts any amount between any two years from 1913 to the present using historical US Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) averages: the same method government agencies, economists and courts use to compare money across time.

The classic uses: translating a 1975 salary or house price into today's terms, checking whether your own pay has kept up with inflation since you started working, understanding what a 'million dollars' meant in a movie from 1990, or seeing why cash savings need a return just to stand still. Every calculation happens in your browser against an embedded CPI table — no lookups, no tracking.

100% freeNo sign-upCPI 1913–2025Private — runs locally
How to use it
  1. 1Enter a dollar amount — a price, a salary, an inheritance, anything.
  2. 2Pick the year that amount belongs to, and the year you want it expressed in.
  3. 3Read the equivalent value, the total percentage change, and the average annual inflation between the two years.
  4. 4Use the quick-range buttons for common comparisons, or flip the years to travel in either direction.
What it shows
  • Any-to-any year conversion, 1913 to present
  • Total inflation between the chosen years
  • Average annual inflation rate for the period
  • Reverse purchasing-power view in one line
  • Quick presets for 1970/1990/2000/2020 to today
  • Embedded CPI data — works offline once loaded

Frequently asked questions

How is the conversion calculated?
Value = amount × (CPI in target year ÷ CPI in source year). CPI-U tracks the price of a representative basket of consumer goods; the ratio of two years' index levels is the inflation between them.
Why does $100 from 1990 equal roughly $245 today?
Because consumer prices, as measured by CPI, are about 2.45× their 1990 level — an average of roughly 2.6% inflation per year compounded over the period.
Is this exact?
It uses rounded annual-average CPI-U figures, so results are close estimates rather than official month-precise conversions. For legal or contractual indexation, use the official BLS series directly.
Does CPI reflect my personal inflation?
Only approximately — CPI is a national basket. If your spending skews toward housing, education or healthcare, your personal inflation has likely run hotter than the headline number.
What does this mean for savings?
Money earning less than inflation loses purchasing power every year — the Rule of 72 says 3% inflation halves idle cash's value in about 24 years. That is the core argument for investing long-term money, covered in our compound interest guide.