Inflation in the USA
In the year to August 2026, consumer prices in the USA rose 3.4%, the same pace as a month earlier. Since January 1947 prices have risen 1,459.5%, which means $100 then buys what $1,559.50 buys now, so the same basket of goods costs 15.6 times what it did.
Cumulative & Yearly Inflation
Inflation in the USA by year
Inflation is the change in that year's average prices against the year before, which is the figure usually quoted. The last two columns take $100 in January of that year and show what it is worth in August 2026, the most recent month on record. Only years measured in full are listed, so the year now running appears once it ends.
| Year | Inflation | $100 is now | Cumulative inflation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 1.1% | 1,424.84 | 1,324.8% |
| 1970 | 5.9% | 883.85 | 783.9% |
| 1990 | 5.4% | 262.73 | 162.7% |
| 2010 | 1.6% | 154.02 | 54.0% |
| 2024 | 2.9% | 108.61 | 8.6% |
Every year from 1948 to 2024
| Year | Inflation | $100 is now | Cumulative inflation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | 7.7% | 1,414.61 | 1,314.6% |
| 1949 | -1.0% | 1,395.17 | 1,295.2% |
| 1950 | 1.1% | 1,424.84 | 1,324.8% |
| 1951 | 7.9% | 1,319.86 | 1,219.9% |
| 1952 | 2.3% | 1,266.47 | 1,166.5% |
| 1953 | 0.8% | 1,257.43 | 1,157.4% |
| 1954 | 0.4% | 1,243.43 | 1,143.4% |
| 1955 | -0.3% | 1,251.33 | 1,151.3% |
| 1956 | 1.5% | 1,248.53 | 1,148.5% |
| 1957 | 3.4% | 1,210.63 | 1,110.6% |
| 1958 | 2.7% | 1,169.62 | 1,069.6% |
| 1959 | 0.9% | 1,154.71 | 1,054.7% |
| 1960 | 1.5% | 1,140.55 | 1,040.6% |
| 1961 | 1.1% | 1,122.59 | 1,022.6% |
| 1962 | 1.2% | 1,115.11 | 1,015.1% |
| 1963 | 1.3% | 1,100.46 | 1,000.5% |
| 1964 | 1.3% | 1,082.68 | 982.7% |
| 1965 | 1.6% | 1,070.91 | 970.9% |
| 1966 | 3.0% | 1,050.75 | 950.8% |
| 1967 | 2.8% | 1,018.18 | 918.2% |
| 1968 | 4.2% | 982.35 | 882.3% |
| 1969 | 5.4% | 938.32 | 838.3% |
| 1970 | 5.9% | 883.85 | 783.9% |
| 1971 | 4.2% | 839.55 | 739.5% |
| 1972 | 3.3% | 813.06 | 713.1% |
| 1973 | 6.3% | 784.50 | 684.5% |
| 1974 | 11.0% | 715.77 | 615.8% |
| 1975 | 9.1% | 640.50 | 540.5% |
| 1976 | 5.8% | 600.32 | 500.3% |
| 1977 | 6.5% | 570.66 | 470.7% |
| 1978 | 7.6% | 534.26 | 434.3% |
| 1979 | 11.3% | 489.02 | 389.0% |
| 1980 | 13.5% | 429.46 | 329.5% |
| 1981 | 10.4% | 384.15 | 284.2% |
| 1982 | 6.2% | 354.85 | 254.9% |
| 1983 | 3.2% | 342.17 | 242.2% |
| 1984 | 4.4% | 328.09 | 228.1% |
| 1985 | 3.5% | 316.92 | 216.9% |
| 1986 | 1.9% | 304.80 | 204.8% |
| 1987 | 3.6% | 300.70 | 200.7% |
| 1988 | 4.1% | 288.78 | 188.8% |
| 1989 | 4.8% | 276.39 | 176.4% |
| 1990 | 5.4% | 262.73 | 162.7% |
| 1991 | 4.2% | 248.69 | 148.7% |
| 1992 | 3.0% | 242.21 | 142.2% |
| 1993 | 3.0% | 234.58 | 134.6% |
| 1994 | 2.6% | 228.97 | 129.0% |
| 1995 | 2.8% | 222.58 | 122.6% |
| 1996 | 2.9% | 216.54 | 116.5% |
| 1997 | 2.3% | 210.15 | 110.2% |
| 1998 | 1.5% | 206.78 | 106.8% |
| 1999 | 2.2% | 203.39 | 103.4% |
| 2000 | 3.4% | 197.86 | 97.9% |
| 2001 | 2.8% | 190.76 | 90.8% |
| 2002 | 1.6% | 188.51 | 88.5% |
| 2003 | 2.3% | 183.45 | 83.5% |
| 2004 | 2.7% | 179.81 | 79.8% |
| 2005 | 3.4% | 174.83 | 74.8% |
| 2006 | 3.2% | 168.08 | 68.1% |
| 2007 | 2.9% | 164.66 | 64.7% |
| 2008 | 3.8% | 157.88 | 57.9% |
| 2009 | -0.3% | 158.06 | 58.1% |
| 2010 | 1.6% | 154.02 | 54.0% |
| 2011 | 3.1% | 151.44 | 51.4% |
| 2012 | 2.1% | 147.02 | 47.0% |
| 2013 | 1.5% | 144.59 | 44.6% |
| 2014 | 1.6% | 142.37 | 42.4% |
| 2015 | 0.1% | 142.70 | 42.7% |
| 2016 | 1.3% | 140.96 | 41.0% |
| 2017 | 2.1% | 137.50 | 37.5% |
| 2018 | 2.4% | 134.61 | 34.6% |
| 2019 | 1.8% | 132.63 | 32.6% |
| 2020 | 1.3% | 129.27 | 29.3% |
| 2021 | 4.7% | 127.54 | 27.5% |
| 2022 | 8.0% | 118.56 | 18.6% |
| 2023 | 4.1% | 111.49 | 11.5% |
| 2024 | 2.9% | 108.61 | 8.6% |
A short history of inflation in the USA
The Great Inflation (1965 to 1982)
The defining American inflation ran from the mid-1960s to 1980. Its causes were cumulative rather than single: military spending in Vietnam alongside the expansion of domestic programmes, the end of the dollar's convertibility into gold in 1971, oil embargoes in 1973 and 1979, and a Federal Reserve that eased policy each time unemployment rose. Inflation peaked at 14.6% in the year to March 1980.
It was ended deliberately and at considerable cost. Paul Volcker, appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve in August 1979, raised the benchmark interest rate from 11% to 20% by the end of 1980 and held it high through two recessions and sustained political pressure. Inflation was back below 4% by December 1982. The episode settled a long argument about whether central banks could control inflation if they were willing to accept the unemployment that came with doing so. The Federal Reserve had been founded in 1913 without any numerical goal for prices, and did not adopt the 2% target it now uses until January 2012.
Post-Covid Inflation (2020 to 2023)
The second episode came four decades later and was compressed into three years. Inflation had fallen to 0.2% in the year to May 2020 as the pandemic shut down spending; it then rose to 9.0% in the year to June 2022, the highest since the Volcker period. The causes were again cumulative: factories and shipping disrupted while household demand switched from services to goods, unusually large government transfers supporting that demand, and, from February 2022, energy and food prices driven up by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Federal Reserve described the rise as transitory and was slow to act. When it did act it moved quickly, raising the benchmark interest rate from near zero in March 2022 to a target range of 5.25% to 5.5% by July 2023, and inflation was back to around 3% within a year of the peak.
Common questions about inflation in the USA
What is the current inflation rate in the USA?
Prices in the USA rose 3.4% in the year to August 2026. That is unchanged on the month before.
What would $100 in January 1947 be worth today?
$100.00 in January 1947 has the same buying power as $1,559.50 in August 2026, a rise of 1,459.5%.
What would $100 in January 1970 be worth today?
$100.00 in January 1970 has the same buying power as $883.85 in August 2026, a rise of 783.9%.
What would $100 in January 1990 be worth today?
$100.00 in January 1990 has the same buying power as $262.73 in August 2026, a rise of 162.7%.
What would $100 in January 2020 be worth today?
$100.00 in January 2020 has the same buying power as $129.27 in August 2026, a rise of 29.3%.
What is the USA's inflation target?
The USA targets 2%. The latest reading of 3.4% is running 1.4 points above it.
How inflation in the USA is measured
The figures on this page come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS series CUUR0000SA0). The series is indexed so that a chosen base year equals 100, and the calculator works out the ratio between any two dates you pick.
The currency shown is the US dollar ($). Coverage runs from January 1947 to August 2026, and updates automatically as each new release is published. Figures for the most recent periods can be revised by the statistics office after first publication.
One month is missing from the American record and always will be. The federal shutdown of late 2025 stopped the Bureau of Labor Statistics collecting prices for October, and the Bureau has said it cannot gather them after the fact, so no index for that month was ever published. Nothing here fills the gap: the calculator offers the month and explains it rather than estimating a figure, and the rate shown for 2025 is the average of the eleven months that exist, which is how the Bureau calculates its own.
No index was published for October 2025, so that month cannot be chosen. The readings either side are on the same basis, so a span crossing the gap is still measured correctly: prices fell 0.2% between September 2025 and November 2025.
Use this data
Click the reference to select it.
Compare Inflation. “Inflation in the USA.” Figures for August 2026. https://compareinflation.com/inflation-in-the-usa/
Download the full series (CSV) — 955 months, January 1947 to August 2026, with the annual rate for each.