Scenario 1
Salary planning
$50,000 salary at 3% inflation for 10 years: you'd need $67,196 in 10 years to maintain the same standard of living.
Trusted by freelancers and business owners
Inflation Calculator
Understand what your money is really worth — and what it will cost you to stay still.
Adjust your inputs
Results update instantly as you type or drag.
1 – 100,000,000
$
0.1 – 20
%
US long-term average is ~3%
1 – 50
Quick insights
Purchasing power lost
$17,196
Real value (today's $)
$37,205
Quick answer
How does inflation affect purchasing power?
At 3% inflation, $100 today is worth only $74 in 10 years — a 26% loss of purchasing power. Future value = Present × (1 + rate)^years.
How it works
From inputs to result in four steps
A quick walkthrough of what this calculator does behind the scenes.
- 1
Enter the current amount (in today's dollars).
- 2
Enter the expected annual inflation rate.
- 3
Set the number of years.
- 4
See future equivalent and purchasing power loss.
Formula
The math behind the number
No black box — here's exactly how the result is computed.
Formula
Future value = P × (1 + i)^t
Purchasing power loss = P × (1 − 1/(1+i)^t)
P = present value
i = annual inflation rate (decimal)
t = yearsExamples
Real-world scenarios
See how the numbers play out for typical use cases.
Scenario 2
Retirement impact
$1,000,000 nest egg in 20 years at 3% inflation is only worth $553,676 in today's dollars.
Related
Pair this with
Other calculators that work well alongside this one.
Finance
Investment Calculator
Calculate the future value of an investment with annual contributions and compound growth.
Open calculatorFinance
Retirement Calculator
Calculate how much you need to save for retirement and whether you're on track to reach your goal.
Open calculatorFinance
Savings Calculator
Calculate how much your savings will grow over time with regular deposits and compound interest.
Open calculator