RetirementCalculator.net

Inflation Calculator

See what today's dollars will be worth in the future, how much your purchasing power erodes, and what income you'll need to maintain your lifestyle in retirement.

Updated May 2026

$

A salary, savings target, or any dollar amount in today's dollars

30
150
3%
1%8%

Long-run US average is 3.1%. The Fed targets 2%.

Historical context

  • 2.0%: Fed long-run target
  • 3.1%: US average since 1960
  • 4.1%: average through 1970s and 1980s
  • 8.0%: peak in 2022

What this means

Future cost

$242,726

up from $100,000 today

Purchasing power

$41,199

$100,000 in 30 years buys this much today

Purchasing power lost

58.8%

over the period

Cumulative inflation

142.7%

total price increase

Trajectory

Future cost vs. purchasing power

Income equivalents

What you'd need to earn to keep pace

Today's salary Equivalent in the future

Year by year

How the numbers change over time

When Future cost Purchasing power

Projected values are estimates and are not guaranteed. Actual results will vary.

By Ryan England Last Updated:

How it works

How this inflation calculator works

Two views, one calculation

Most inflation tools give you one number. This one gives you two. The future cost shows what a thing will sticker price for later. The purchasing power shows what a fixed dollar amount actually buys later. Both are derived from the same compound formula, applied in opposite directions.

Compound annually

Inflation compounds. Three percent a year sounds small, but over 30 years it produces a 142% cumulative price increase, more than doubling costs. The chart and year-by-year table make the compounding visible so you can see when the curve steepens.

Income equivalents

Numbers stick when they map to something familiar. The income equivalents table shows what common salaries today would need to be in the future to maintain the same lifestyle. A $75,000 salary today is roughly $182,000 in 30 years at 3% inflation. The point is to make the abstract concrete, so you can plan against the right number rather than guess.

Retirement-aware framing

Most inflation calculators are generic. This one is built for retirement planning context: the historical reference panel, the time horizons up to 50 years, and the salary equivalents are all chosen to support the questions retirement savers actually ask.

Key numbers

Inflation at a glance

Fed long-run target

2.0%

PCE-based, official

US average since 1960

3.1%

CPI-U annual, BLS

Years to double prices

24

at 3% inflation

2022 peak

8.0%

highest since 1981

Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U historical data, Federal Reserve target statements, FRED economic database.

Tips

How to think about inflation in retirement planning

Don't double-count inflation

The most common modeling mistake is mixing real and nominal numbers. If your spending target is in today's dollars and your investment return is nominal, the answer will be wrong. Pick one frame and stay in it. Most retirement calculators, including ours, work in nominal terms internally and translate to today's dollars where needed.

Stress-test at higher rates

A 30-year retirement plan that fails at 5% inflation but works at 3% is more fragile than it looks. Run your projection at 4% or 5% to see whether the answer holds. If it doesn't, you have a real risk to plan around: more equity exposure, TIPS, an inflation-protected pension, or a more flexible spending plan.

Stocks are your inflation hedge

Over long horizons, equities have outperformed inflation by a wide margin. Bonds barely keep up. Cash loses purchasing power steadily. A retirement portfolio that's too heavy in cash or short bonds will lose ground to inflation even if the nominal balance looks stable. Stocks aren't a perfect hedge year over year, but they are over decades.

Healthcare inflates faster

Medical care inflation has historically run about a percentage point above general inflation. If healthcare is a large share of your retirement budget (and it usually is, especially in early retirement before Medicare), modeling that line item at a higher rate gives you a more honest picture.

Keep going

Related calculators

Retirement Calculator →

Full retirement projection that builds inflation directly into the plan.

Retirement Income Calculator →

See how long your savings last with inflation-adjusted spending and income.

Early Retirement Calculator →

Stress-test an early retirement plan against inflation, healthcare costs, and the gap before Medicare.

Common questions

What is an inflation calculator?
An inflation calculator shows how the real value of money changes over time. Enter today's amount, the number of years you're looking out, and an expected inflation rate, and it tells you what that amount will cost in the future and how much purchasing power you lose along the way.
What inflation rate should I use?
The long-run US average has been about 3% annually. The Federal Reserve targets 2%. Recent decades have varied widely: under 2% through most of the 2010s, briefly above 8% in 2022. For retirement planning, 2.5% to 3% is a common assumption. Use a higher rate if you want to stress-test against a more inflationary environment.
How does inflation affect retirement savings?
Inflation is the silent risk in retirement planning. A nest egg that produces $60,000 a year today only buys what $33,000 buys in 25 years at 3% inflation. That's why retirement projections need to either inflate your spending year over year, or work in today's dollars throughout. Most well-designed calculators do one or the other consistently.
What is the rule of 72 for inflation?
The rule of 72 is a quick mental shortcut: divide 72 by your annual rate to get the number of years for prices to double. At 3% inflation, prices double in about 24 years. At 6%, they double in 12 years. The same rule works in reverse for purchasing power: at 3% inflation, your dollar's purchasing power is cut in half in 24 years.
Does Social Security keep up with inflation?
Yes, Social Security benefits receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) tied to the CPI-W index. Pensions are a different story: most private pensions have no COLA, and federal pensions partially adjust. If your retirement income is anchored to a non-COLA pension, the inflation hedge has to come from your investment portfolio.
How much should I save to beat inflation?
If your savings earn a real return (return after inflation) above zero, you're beating inflation. Long-run stock returns are roughly 10% nominal, 7% real (after 3% inflation). Bonds are closer to 1% to 2% real. A diversified portfolio aimed at retirement typically targets a 4% to 6% real return after fees, which is enough to outpace inflation while building wealth.
What is the difference between nominal and real dollars?
Nominal dollars are face-value dollars at a specific point in time. Real dollars are adjusted for inflation, so they reflect purchasing power consistently across years. Saying "I want $80,000 a year in retirement" usually means $80,000 in today's purchasing power (real), which translates to a higher nominal number in 30 years. Calculators sometimes mix these up. This one keeps them clearly separated.
Should I assume higher inflation to be conservative?
It depends what you're calculating. For income needs, a higher assumed inflation rate makes you save more and is conservative. For investment returns, a higher inflation rate combined with a fixed nominal return reduces real returns and is also conservative. Be careful not to double-count: if you're in real dollars throughout, you've already factored inflation in.