Purchasing Power Calculator
Official data verified · U.S. CPI-U · Annual average · NSA · Data through September 2026 (fetched 2026-11-02) · Series CUUR0000SA0
How much has the dollar shrunk? Pick any two dates and see both directions: what past money is worth now, and what today's money would have been worth then.
$100 across the decades
| Year | $100 then = today | Price change | $100 today = then |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | $1,989.48 | +1889.5% | $5.03 |
| 1940 | $2,371.75 | +2271.7% | $4.22 |
| 1950 | $1,380.51 | +1280.5% | $7.24 |
| 1960 | $1,123.39 | +1023.4% | $8.90 |
| 1970 | $855.74 | +755.7% | $11.69 |
| 1980 | $403.17 | +303.2% | $24.80 |
| 1990 | $254.28 | +154.3% | $39.33 |
| 2000 | $192.94 | +92.9% | $51.83 |
| 2010 | $152.37 | +52.4% | $65.63 |
| 2020 | $128.37 | +28.4% | $77.90 |
Annual-average CPI-U, not seasonally adjusted. The two directions are not mirror images: a price rise of 100% halves a dollar's purchasing power (−50%), it does not reduce it by 100%.