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Inflation increases the prices you pay for goods and services. High inflation, such as what happened in the late 70's and early 80's in the United States, can dramatically and permanently increase prices. Use this calculator to see how inflation has affected the value of the U.S. dollar, and how prices have changed as a result.
Inflation and Consumer Prices Calculator Definitions
Starting year
The initial year to start your price adjustments for inflation.
Ending year
The final year to price adjust for inflation. The final value is always calculated for the end of the year you select.
Price
The hypothetical price of a good or service in the start year. This amount is adjusted annually for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Total inflation
The total cumulative impact of inflation for the time-frame you have selected. To calculate total inflation, the tool uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The underlying data supplies an annual CPI rate and a base amount which represents the relative purchasing power for that year. For example, in 1980 the base amount was 82.4 compared to 224.9 in 2011. In this example, $224.90 in 2011 would have the same purchasing power as $82.40 in 1980. The calculations use the base amounts to calculate the difference between any two years. There are small data discrepancies and loss of precision through rounding in the underlying data supplied by the Federal Reserve. These discrepancies can cause differences between the annual change in base amounts and the stated CPI rate for any given year.
