CostOfLivingByState

Free calculator | Updated October 2026

Inflation Calculator: What Your Money Is Worth Now

Official BLS Consumer Price Index data from 1913 to September 2026. See what any amount from any year is worth today, or what today’s money would have bought then, for everything or just groceries, rent, gas, cars or your region.

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Everything (headline CPI)

$100 in 2000 has the same buying power as $195.67 in September 2026.
Cumulative price change+95.7%
Average per year2.59%
Span26.2 years
Latest 12-month change (September 2026)3.7%

Put the other way: $100 in September 2026 buys what $51.11 bought in 2000. To keep up, a 2000 salary of $50,000 would need to be $97,834 by September 2026.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, not seasonally adjusted, latest September 2026; the same method as BLS’s own CPI Inflation Calculator (amount × CPI then ÷ CPI now). Years use the annual average of the published months. BLS published no October 2025 index (data collection stopped during the federal shutdown), so that month is not offered.

The index behind every inflation figure

The Consumer Price Index tracks the price of a fixed basket of goods and services bought by urban households, priced every month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Its level has no meaning on its own (1982 to 1984 = 100); what matters is the ratio between two dates. That ratio is the whole calculation: value now = amount × CPI now ÷ CPI then. Monthly mode uses the index for that month; yearly mode uses the year’s average.

Your inflation is not the headline

The headline CPI blends everything. A renter who drives a lot has lived through different inflation from a homeowner who works from home. That is why the calculator offers the categories BLS publishes in detail: rent, shelter, groceries, eating out, gasoline, electricity, energy, medical care, new and used cars, plus the four regions. For what this means for a raise, see the paycheck calculator; for the benefit increase, the 2027 cost of living increase.

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Frequently Asked

Inflation Calculator: questions answered

How does an inflation calculator work?
It compares the Consumer Price Index in two periods. If the index was 172.2 in 2000 and is 336.9 now, prices have roughly doubled, so $100 from 2000 buys what about $196 buys today. This calculator uses the same Bureau of Labor Statistics data and the same method as BLS's own CPI Inflation Calculator, with monthly figures back to January 1913.
What is the current inflation rate?
Consumer prices rose 3.7% over the 12 months to September 2026, measured by the CPI for All Urban Consumers (not seasonally adjusted), the figure BLS publishes as headline inflation. Pick a category in the calculator to see rent, groceries, energy or medical care separately; they often move very differently from the headline.
What is $100 from 2000 worth today?
$100 in 2000 has the buying power of about $196 in September 2026: prices are up 96% since then, an average of 2.6% a year. Since 2020 alone prices are up 30%, and groceries 29%.
Why is there no October 2025 figure?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics never published a Consumer Price Index for October 2025: price collection was suspended during the federal government shutdown that autumn. The calculator leaves that month out rather than estimate it, and the 2025 annual average uses the eleven published months.
How does inflation relate to the Social Security COLA?
The cost-of-living adjustment is calculated from a different version of the index, the CPI-W (urban wage earners and clerical workers), comparing July to September with the same three months a year earlier. On the data in this calculator that comes to 3.6% for 2027, matching the Social Security Administration's announcement. Choose 'CPI-W' in the calculator to follow it.
Does inflation differ by region?
Yes. BLS publishes separate indexes for the Northeast, Midwest, South and West, monthly from December 1986. Over long stretches the West has risen fastest, driven by housing, though the order changes from year to year. For how expensive each state is today, as opposed to how fast prices are rising, see the cost of living index.

Reader questions

Something this site doesn't answer?

Write to us. A person reads every message and we answer the ones we can, with the source cited. If your question would help other readers, we may publish an anonymised version, and we ask you first. Price-level figures here are a general reference for comparing states, not financial or relocation advice, so check your own move with a certified financial planner.

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