How to use it
- Type the Amount in dollars you want to compare.
- Choose Compare by: Calendar years for the yearly averages, or Months for the index of each month.
- Set the From year and To year, or the From month and To month. The second date may come before the first.
- Read the Value at the second date, the Change in prices and the Average yearly inflation. For years, the table shows every year in between.
How the value is calculated
The calculator uses the consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted. The index measures the average change in what urban consumers pay for a fixed basket of goods and services.
The value of an amount at the second date is the amount scaled by the ratio of the two index values. The result is rounded to the cent.
Value at the second date = Amount × CPI-U at the second date ÷ CPI-U at the first dateYears, months and the average yearly rate
For calendar years the calculator uses the annual average of the monthly index, which BLS publishes for each year from 1913 to 2025. For months it uses the index of the single month, so compare months with months and years with years.
The average yearly inflation is the compound rate between the two index values over the period. Months are divided by 12 to give the years. A period of no time has no yearly rate.
Average yearly inflation = (later index ÷ earlier index)^(1 ÷ years) − 1Data, the date read and what is missing
The index comes from the BLS workbook Historical Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), read on 11 November 2026. The last month in the table is October 2026, with an index of 337.511. The table starts in January 1913, and BLS publishes no index before that.
BLS did not publish the October 2025 index, because of a lapse in appropriations. The 2025 annual average is the mean of the eleven months that were published. The calculator does not estimate the missing month.
The index measures the average price level, not the cost of living of one household, and it does not include income tax or interest. The result is an estimate. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, U.S. city average, all items, accessed 11 November 2026.
Example: $100 in 2000, in 2025 dollars
The annual average index was 172.200 in 2000 and 321.943 in 2025. The amount at the first date is worth $100 × 321.943 ÷ 172.200 = $186.96 at the second date.
Prices rose 86.96% between the two years. Over 25 years that is an average yearly inflation of 2.53%, compounded.
The same amount from January 2000 to October 2026, using the monthly index of 168.800 and 337.511, is worth $199.95.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the calculator use annual averages for calendar years?
The index for a year is the average of its twelve months, so comparing two years means comparing their averages. Choose months when the exact month matters, for example a payment that changed in a given month.
Is the CPI-U the same as personal inflation?
No. The CPI-U is the average change in prices for urban consumers in the United States, using a fixed basket of goods and services. A household that spends differently from that basket can have a different inflation rate.
Why is there no October 2025 value?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish the October 2025 index because of the 2025 lapse in appropriations. The calculator does not estimate it, so choose another month; the 2025 annual average is still available.
Does this match the BLS CPI Inflation Calculator?
It uses the same index. On 11 November 2026, the BLS calculator gave $3,314.29 for $100 from January 1913 to September 2025, and this calculator gives the same amount for those dates.
How current is the data?
The table runs to October 2026, read from the BLS workbook on 11 November 2026. Months published later are not in the calculator until the table is updated from a newer BLS workbook.
Can I compare dates before 1913?
No. BLS publishes this index from January 1913, so the calculator covers the period from that month to the latest month in the table.
Sources
- BLS, Historical Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), workbook historical-cpi-u-202610.xlsx
- BLS, Consumer Price Index supplemental files
- BLS, CPI Inflation Calculator
- BLS, copyright and use of BLS material (public domain, cite the Bureau of Labor Statistics as the source)
Figures and text last checked on Wednesday, November 11, 2026.