What is $1,000 from 2000 worth in 2026?

Purchasing power is how much real goods and services a given amount of money can buy. As prices rise due to inflation, the same dollar amount purchases less; your money's purchasing power falls. A $100 bill in 2000 bought what costs about $193 in 2026.

The US dollar has lost about 97% of its 1913 purchasing power. What cost $1.00 in 1913 costs about $33.50 in 2026, a cumulative price increase of about 3,250% over 113 years, based on BLS CPI-U annual averages.

$1 in 1950 is worth about $13.76 in 2026, based on BLS CPI-U data (the index rose from 24.1 to 331.7). The US dollar lost about 93% of its 1950 purchasing power over 76 years; cumulative inflation over that span was about 1,276%.

$100 in 1980 is worth about $402 in 2026 dollars, 4.0 times as much. The dollar lost about 75% of its 1980 purchasing power over 46 years, a cumulative inflation rate of about 302% based on the BLS CPI-U series.

The US dollar has lost about 48% of its purchasing power since 2000. Something that cost $100 in 2000 costs about $193 in 2026, a cumulative inflation rate of about 92.6% (the CPI rose from 172.2 to 331.7). That works out to about 2.6% average annual inflation.

US consumer prices rose about 28.1% from 2020 to 2026, based on BLS CPI-U data (the index rose from 258.8 to 331.7). The sharpest spike hit in 2021–2022, when annual inflation reached 4.7% then 8.0%, the highest since 1981, driven by pandemic supply disruptions, a surge in demand for goods, and stimulus spending.

Inflation is the gradual rise in the general price of goods and services over time, which reduces the purchasing power of money. The BLS measures it monthly by tracking the cost of approximately 80,000 consumer items in the CPI-U basket. When CPI rises 5% in a year, each dollar buys about 5% less than it did twelve months earlier.

CPI stands for Consumer Price Index. The CPI-U variant, used in this calculator, covers urban consumers, about 93% of the US population, and is the most widely cited inflation benchmark. Members of the CPI family adjust Social Security benefits (the CPI-W), federal income tax brackets (the chained CPI-U), TIPS and I-bonds (the CPI-U), and thousands of private contracts.

The CPI-U tracks roughly 80,000 goods and services across eight categories: food and beverages, housing, apparel, transportation, medical care, recreation, education and communication, and other goods. Housing is the largest weight at about 44% of the index. The BLS updates the category weights every year to reflect shifting consumer spending.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys prices monthly for housing, food, energy, transportation, medical care, and other categories. The year-over-year percentage change in the CPI is the reported inflation rate: ((CPI_current − CPI_prior) ÷ CPI_prior) × 100. This calculator uses annual CPI-U averages from 1913 to 2026; the 2026 figure averages the months published so far.

CPI-U covers all urban consumers, about 93% of the US population, and is the broadest inflation measure. CPI-W covers only urban wage earners and clerical workers, roughly 29% of the population. Social Security cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are tied to CPI-W; most economic reporting uses CPI-U.

Headline inflation tracks all goods and services including volatile food and energy prices. Core inflation strips those two categories out to reveal the underlying trend. The Federal Reserve watches core PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) inflation more closely than CPI when setting interest rates, because food and energy swings often reverse quickly.

Measured by the annual average CPI-U, the highest US inflation since 1913 was 18.0% in 1918, during World War I; 1917, 1919, and 1920 all topped 14%. After World War II, prices rose 14.4% in 1947 as wartime price controls came off. The peak of the 1970s inflation was 13.5% in 1980, after the 1979 oil shock and a decade of loose monetary policy. The most recent high was 8.0% in 2022.

The 1970s inflation had three main causes: two oil shocks (the 1973 OPEC embargo and the 1979 Iranian Revolution) that sent energy prices soaring, Nixon's 1971 decision to end the dollar's gold convertibility (removing a monetary anchor), and accommodative Fed policy that allowed wages and prices to spiral upward. Annual inflation peaked at 13.5% in 1980 before Paul Volcker's aggressive rate hikes broke the cycle.

US inflation was just 1.2% in 2020 as the pandemic initially suppressed demand. By 2021–2022, massive fiscal stimulus, supply chain bottlenecks, and surging goods demand pushed annual CPI inflation to 4.7% in 2021 and 8.0% in 2022, the highest in 40 years. The Fed raised its policy rate from near zero to 5.25–5.5% between March 2022 and July 2023, and inflation eased to 4.1% in 2023 and 2.9% in 2024.

The Great Depression brought severe deflation, not inflation. The US CPI fell from 17.1 in 1929 to 13.0 in 1933, a cumulative price decline of about 24%. Falling prices sound beneficial but triggered a debt-deflation spiral: debts became harder to repay in real terms, accelerating bankruptcies and deepening the economic contraction.

The most recent US deflation was in 2009, when the annual average CPI slipped from 215.3 to 214.5 (-0.4%) as energy prices fell back after the financial crisis. In 2015 prices were nearly flat (up 0.1% for the year), with small year-over-year declines in a few months as oil prices collapsed. Sustained deflation last happened during the Great Depression, when prices fell every year from 1930 to 1933.

The most inflationary years since 1913: 1917–1920 (World War I and its aftermath, peaking at 18.0% in 1918), 1946–1948 (post-WWII price decontrol, peaking at 14.4% in 1947), and 1974–1981 (oil shocks, peaking at 13.5% in 1980). Recent high-inflation years include 2021 (4.7%), 2022 (8.0%), and 2023 (4.1%). You can plug any of those years into the calculator to see the cumulative impact.

Inflation reduces the purchasing power of cash and savings over time. $10,000 held in a non-interest account at 3% annual inflation loses about 26% of its real value over 10 years, buying only $7,440 worth of goods even though the dollar balance is unchanged. Any account earning less than the inflation rate loses real value every year.

Real return equals the nominal interest rate minus inflation. If a savings account pays 2% and inflation runs at 3%, the real return is negative 1%; your purchasing power shrinks by 1% per year. High-yield savings accounts, I-bonds (which adjust for CPI), and TIPS provide better inflation protection than traditional accounts paying below-inflation rates.

Fixed-income retirees are especially vulnerable because a pension or annuity locked in at retirement buys progressively less each year. At 3% annual inflation, purchasing power falls by roughly 45% over 20 years. This is why inflation-adjusted income sources such as Social Security COLAs, TIPS bonds, and inflation-indexed annuities are central to retirement planning.

Social Security benefits receive an annual Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) calculated from the CPI-W (Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners). The COLA is applied each January. The 2023 COLA was 8.7%, the largest in 40 years, reflecting the 2022 spike in consumer prices. No COLA is applied in years when CPI-W does not rise.

A COLA is a periodic increase in wages, benefits, or payments designed to keep pace with inflation. Social Security, many government pensions, and some union contracts include automatic COLAs tied to the CPI. COLAs protect recipients from purchasing-power loss but can contribute to wage-price spirals if increases outpace productivity growth.

The Federal Reserve targets 2% annual inflation, measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rather than CPI. This target was formally adopted in 2012. The 2% level is considered low enough to preserve purchasing power while leaving enough room to cut interest rates during recessions without hitting the zero lower bound.

The Fed primarily controls inflation by raising the federal funds rate, the overnight lending rate between banks. Higher rates raise borrowing costs across the economy (mortgages, car loans, business credit), cooling spending and investment. The Fed also uses quantitative tightening (shrinking its bond portfolio) to reduce money supply and put upward pressure on longer-term rates.

Rate hikes slow inflation by making credit more expensive, which reduces borrowing and spending. Higher mortgage rates cool housing demand; higher business loan rates slow hiring and capital investment. Reduced aggregate demand eventually eases pressure on prices. The Fed's 2022–2023 cycle raised its policy rate from near zero to 5.25–5.5%, the fastest pace since the 1980s.

Stagflation is the simultaneous occurrence of high inflation, slow economic growth, and high unemployment, a combination that defies the normal trade-off where inflation and unemployment move in opposite directions. The US experienced stagflation in the 1970s. It's exceptionally hard to fight because rate hikes that reduce inflation also worsen unemployment.

Hyperinflation is typically defined as prices rising more than 50% per month. Historical examples include Germany in 1923, Zimbabwe in 2008, and Venezuela in the 2010s. The US has never experienced hyperinflation. Its highest annual rate since 1913 was 18.0% in 1918, and the worst modern episode peaked at 13.5% in 1980: severe, but orders of magnitude below the hyperinflationary threshold.