See what an amount of money is worth today

What the numbers mean

A consumer price index tracks what a representative basket of goods and services costs over time. Comparing the index in two years gives the ratio between those two years' money, which is what this page does. Each country here uses its own national index, published by its own statistics agency, because inflation is not a shared experience — the UK and the US diverged sharply through the 1970s, and using one country's index for another's currency would quietly build that error into every answer.

The figure worth understanding is the compound annual rate. US prices rose roughly 3,000% between 1913 and today. Dividing that by the number of years suggests something like 27% a year, which is obviously wrong — the real compounded figure is around 3%. The difference is that each year's increase applies to the previous year's higher prices, not to the original amount.

How far back each country reaches

Coverage is set by what each agency actually recorded, and the spread is wide:

• United States — 1913 to 2026, from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (CPI-U, US city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted, 1982-84 = 100).
• United Kingdom — 1800 to 2025, from the UK Office for National Statistics (Retail Prices Index: long run series, Jan 1974 = 100).
• Canada — 1914 to 2026, from the Statistics Canada (Consumer Price Index, all-items, Canada, not seasonally adjusted, 2002 = 100).
• Australia — 1948 to 2025, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (CPI, all groups, weighted average of eight capital cities, 2011-12 = 100).
• New Zealand — 1950 to 2025, from the OECD, from Stats NZ (Consumers Price Index, all groups, 2015 = 100).

The UK is the outlier by a wide margin. Its long run series begins in 1800, reaching past the railways, the Napoleonic wars, and most of the Industrial Revolution — so it can answer questions about Victorian wages and Georgian prices that no other series here can touch. Australia and New Zealand are the shortest, beginning after the Second World War, which is simply when their agencies started keeping the series.

Why there is no currency conversion

A question this page deliberately will not answer is "what are 1970 pounds worth in today's dollars". Answering it honestly needs an exchange rate as well as two price indices, and the exchange rate would swamp everything else: sterling bought about $2.40 in 1970 and buys far less today, a movement much larger than the inflation gap between the two countries. A single combined number would hide which of the three effects produced the result. Convert within one currency here, then apply an exchange rate separately if you need to cross between them.

Where this is misleading

A price index answers "what did this basket cost" — not "what could this buy" in any deeper sense. Three caveats worth carrying, and they apply to every country here:

• Quality changes. A 1985 car and a 2026 car are not the same product. The index adjusts for this, but the adjustment is a judgement rather than a measurement.
• Substitution. When beef gets expensive people buy chicken. A fixed basket overstates the cost of living compared with what people actually do.
• Your basket is not the basket. If your spending is dominated by rent, childcare, or medical costs, you have experienced meaningfully higher inflation than the headline number for most of the past two decades.

For settling an argument about what a wage or a ticket price used to be worth, this is the right tool. For anything financially consequential, treat it as an estimate. To see how the rate moved year by year rather than across a span, the inflation rate by year page charts every year each series covers.

Common questions

Which countries does this cover?

Five: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Each uses its own national price index published by its own statistics agency — United States from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics; United Kingdom from the UK Office for National Statistics; Canada from the Statistics Canada; Australia from the Australian Bureau of Statistics; New Zealand from the OECD, from Stats NZ — rather than one index applied to every currency, which would be wrong the moment the two economies diverged. Coverage differs by country because the agencies' records do: the UK series reaches back to 1800, while the others begin between 1913 and the 1950s. The year picker only offers years the selected country actually has.

Can I convert 1970 pounds into today's dollars?

Not here, and the omission is deliberate. Doing that honestly needs an exchange rate as well as two price indices, and the exchange rate would dominate the answer — sterling was worth about $2.40 in 1970 and is worth far less now, a swing much larger than the inflation difference between the two countries. Any single number combining all three effects hides which one produced the result. Convert within one currency here, and apply an exchange rate separately if you need to cross between them.

Why is the annual rate lower than I expected?

The average annual rate shown is compounded, not the total divided by the number of years. Those differ enormously over long spans: US prices rose roughly 3,000% between 1913 and today, which sounds like 27% a year, but compounded it is closer to 3%. Compounding is the meaningful figure, because that is how prices actually behave — each year's increase applies to the previous year's higher prices, not to the original amount.

Why do the UK figures use RPI rather than CPI?

Because CPI does not go back far enough to be useful for the questions people bring to a page like this. The ONS CPI series begins in 1988; the Retail Prices Index long run series begins in 1800, and a calculator whose whole purpose is reaching a long way back should reach. RPI is no longer a designated National Statistic and tends to run slightly above CPI, so for recent years it will give a marginally higher figure than a CPI-based calculator would. For settling what a Victorian wage was worth, it is the only series that can answer at all.

Is a price index the right measure?

It is the standard one, and it has known limitations that apply in every country here. A price index tracks a fixed basket of goods, so it does not fully capture people substituting one product for another when prices change, and it struggles with quality improvements — a 1990 computer and a 2026 computer are not the same product. Your own basket is not the national basket either: if your spending is dominated by rent, childcare, or medical costs, you have experienced meaningfully higher inflation than the headline number for most of the past two decades. For everyday comparisons this is the best available answer; for anything consequential, treat it as approximate.

Why does the most recent year say it is incomplete?

The annual figure is the average of every period published within the year — twelve months for the US and Canada, four quarters for Australia — so it cannot be final until the last one arrives. Until then the current year is an average of what has been published so far, and it will shift as the rest of the year comes in. The page says so rather than presenting a part-year average as settled.