Inflation Calculator
Inflation is a slow leak in the value of every dollar you hold. Enter an amount, a rate, and a number of years, and this calculator shows what that money will actually buy when the time comes.
At 3% inflation, $10,000 today buys what $5,537 buys in 20 years.
Worked examples
Real results from this calculator, computed for a few common scenarios. Move the sliders above to run your own numbers.
| Amount today = $20,100 | At 3% inflation, $20,100 today buys what $11,129 buys in 20 years. |
| Amount today = $50,100 | At 3% inflation, $50,100 today buys what $27,739 buys in 20 years. |
| Amount today = $80,000 | At 3% inflation, $80,000 today buys what $44,294 buys in 20 years. |
Popular scenarios, precomputed
One-click answers to the versions of this question people ask most.
What Will $100 Be Worth in 10 Years After Inflation?
What Will $100 Be Worth in 20 Years After Inflation?
What Will $100 Be Worth in 30 Years After Inflation?
What Will $1,000 Be Worth in 10 Years After Inflation?
What Will $1,000 Be Worth in 20 Years After Inflation?
What Will $1,000 Be Worth in 30 Years After Inflation?
What Will $10,000 Be Worth in 10 Years After Inflation?
What Will $10,000 Be Worth in 20 Years After Inflation?
What Will $10,000 Be Worth in 30 Years After Inflation?
What Will $100,000 Be Worth in 10 Years After Inflation?
What Will $100,000 Be Worth in 20 Years After Inflation?
What Will $100,000 Be Worth in 30 Years After Inflation?
Your next step
How this math works
The math divides your amount by the inflation rate compounded once per year. At 3 percent inflation, prices double roughly every 24 years, which means a dollar loses about half its buying power over that stretch.
This is why cash savings alone rarely build wealth. Money earning less than the inflation rate is losing ground every year even though the account balance never goes down. The goal is to keep long term money in assets that historically outpace inflation.
Common questions
What inflation rate should I use?
The Federal Reserve targets 2 percent, and the long run United States average is close to 3 percent. Recent years have shown it can run much hotter, so testing 4 or 5 percent is a useful stress test.
Where does the official inflation number come from?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the Consumer Price Index each month, tracking the cost of a broad basket of goods and services. Our live data pages chart it directly from the BLS feed.
How do I protect my savings from inflation?
Common tools include stocks for long horizons, Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, Series I savings bonds, and simply keeping cash in accounts that pay a competitive yield rather than near zero.
Put this calculator on your website
Bloggers, teachers, credit unions, HR teams: embed the live Inflation Calculator free. Copy the snippet below — the tool keeps working and stays up to date automatically, no maintenance on your side.
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