← Blogby Marcell Almeida

How to calculate inflation-adjusted purchasing power

Enter an amount and year range — see equivalent value today or in a past year.

A dollar in 1990 bought more than a dollar today. The Inflation Calculator adjusts amounts using historical US CPI so you can compare real purchasing power across years.

Try it — amount, start year, end year

Open full tool →

How it works

  1. Amount — dollar value to adjust.
  2. From year — original year of the amount.
  3. To year — target year for comparison.

CPI methodology

Adjustments use Consumer Price Index ratios between years. This is an approximation — your personal basket (housing, healthcare) may differ from national averages.

Long-term planning

Use this alongside the Compound Interest Calculator when projecting retirement savings in real (inflation-adjusted) terms.

The How to calculate inflation-adjusted purchasing power is free, runs locally, and never sends your data to a server. More finance calculators at maratool.com.