The table below provides the Historical U.S. Inflation Rate data from 1914 to the Present. For a smaller table with just the inflation rate data since the year 2000, see the Current Inflation page.
The Inflation rate is calculated from the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) which is compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and is based upon a 1982-84 Base of 100. Would you like to know the real definition of inflation or how to calculate inflation? or the monthly rather than annual inflation rate? To view the actual Consumer Price Index data that this inflation data is calculated from, go to the Historical CPI table.
Note: Due to the width of the table, this page is best viewed full screen or as wide as possible.
To see an in depth view of the inflationary
makeup of each decade:
|1913-19
|
1920-29 |
1930-39 |
1940-49 |
1950-59 |
1960-69 |
1970-79 |
1980-89 |
1990-1999 |
|Coming Soon | 2000-09 | 2010- Present |
Note: In January 2017 the BLS modified the CPI numbers for May - August 2016
due to a miscalculation based on prescription drug prices.
The original inflation numbers were as follows:
May 2016: 1.022%, June 2016: 1.006%, July 2016: 0.835%, August 2016: 1.065%.
Note since the difference is quite small we've stretched them out to 3 decimal places so you can see the difference.
The new numbers are:
May 2016: 1.019%, June 2016: 0.997%, July 2016: 0.827%,
August 2016: 1.063%.
Note: When rounded to only 1 decimal point (as the BLS does) you can't
see any difference.
Jump to Bottom of Inflation Table
or click "year" to reverse order. Click "Ave" to sort years
by Average Annual inflation rate rather than date (click again to reverse). Blank Cells indicate that the data is not available because it has not been released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics yet.
A CPI of 195 indicates 95% inflation since 1982*, the commonly quoted inflation rate of say 3% is actually the change in the Consumer Price Index from a year earlier.
The "Ave" on this table is the Average of the individual Inflation rates for that year. Caution, you cannot just add the inflation rates from two consecutive years or even average them to find the total inflation between two dates. If you would like to calculate the inflation rate between two dates you must base your calculations on the actual CPI index or you can use our handy easy to use Inflation calculator or you might prefer to use our Cost of Living Calculator to compare the costs in two cities.
You can find links to Inflation and Consumer Price Index data for other countries HERE. A chart of Inflation by decade, Annual Inflation and Confederate Inflation is also available. Menu navigation is available on every page. We have a complete listing of all of our Articles on inflation, including Inflation Definitions, Which is better High or Low Inflation, and How to Calculate Inflation , Inflation Adjusted Oil Prices (Chart) and Inflation Adjusted Oil Prices (table) and a Monthly Inflation Rate Table.
* Actually the index applies to an average of 1982-1984 so there is no specific date when the index was exactly 100. (If you check the chart here you will see it was somewhere between July and August of 1983. But the reference year is commonly referred to as 1982.)
You might also be interested in the wide variety of articles on our sister site Financial Trend Forecaster a complete list of the articles on Financial Trend Forecaster is at the FTF Article Archives.
Information about Individual Decades:
- Confederate Inflation Rates (1861 – 1865)
- WWI: The beginning of the of the CPI the Inflationary period 1913 -1919
- The Roaring Twenties Inflation and Deflation 1920-1929
- The Great Depression Deflationary 1930s 1930-1939
- World War II: the volatile 1940’s High and Low Inflation 1940-1949
- The 1950s Happy Days Inflation and CPI 1950-1959
- The 1960s the age of possibility Low Inflation 1960-1969
- The Inflationary 1970s Inflation and CPI 1970-1979
- The Reagan Era Lower Inflation 1980-1989
- The Decade of Free Enterprise Inflation 1990-1999
To calculate inflation from a month and year to a later month and year, Try our Inflation calculator
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