Real inflation tracker

Starting point Your salary at the start ($/yr) Your salary now ($/yr, optional)

Essentials basket—

All-items CPI—

Average hourly wages—

Latest data—Monthly, seasonally adjusted

Your salary vs inflation

Break-even is what your start salary must be today to buy the same things.

Break-even, essentials basket—

Break-even, all-items CPI—

If you got typical wage growth—

Your real change (vs essentials)—

Buying power lost by a start-date dollar—

Enter your salary above to fill this in.

By category

Total rise since the start, and the steady yearly rate that compounds to it.

Category	Total	Per year	$100 then

Cumulative change since the start

Essentials basket vs all-items CPI vs wages. When the wage line sits below a price line, pay lost ground.

How it's calculated

Cumulative = (index now ÷ index at start) − 1. Per year = (index now ÷ index at start)^(12 ÷ months) − 1.
Essentials basket = housing (shelter: rent + owners' equivalent rent) 57%, food 22%, medical care 11%, energy 10% (gasoline plus home electricity and gas). Weights are each category's CPI share, rescaled to 100%. Vehicle insurance excluded.
Break-even = start salary × (index now ÷ index at start). Real change = (salary now ÷ salary then) ÷ (basket now ÷ basket then) − 1.
BLS published no October 2025 CPI (shutdown gap); that month is the midpoint of September and November.
Not included yet: city indexes (e.g. Los Angeles, FRED CUURS49ASA0) and a mortgage payment index (home prices × mortgage rates). CPI shelter excludes mortgage payments.

Data: BLS via FRED, Jan 2010 to Sep 2026. Series CPIAUCSL, CPIUFDSL, CPIENGSL, CUSR0000SAH1, CUSR0000SAH2, CPIMEDSL, CES0500000003. Fetched Oct 15, 2026.