What is $1 from 2018 worth today?
$1 in 2018 is worth $1.34 in September 2026, based on the official Consumer Price Index. Prices have risen 34% since 2018, an average of 3.65% a year over 8 years. In other words, prices have doubled about 0.4 times, and a dollar today buys 74.5% of what it bought in 2018.
The same ratio applies to any amount: $20 from 2018 is worth $26.84, $100 is worth $134.18 and $1,000 is worth $1,342 in today's dollars.
Inflation in 2018
The CPI-U averaged 251.107 in 2018, up 2.4% from 245.12 in 2017. From December 2017 to December 2018, prices rose 1.9%. Ranked by annual inflation, 2018 is number 60 of the 112 years from 1914 to 2025.
In the 2010s, annual inflation averaged 1.8% a year. The highest rate was 3.2% in 2011 and the lowest 0.1% in 2015.
2018 prices in today's money, and today's prices in 2018 money
If something cost $5 in 2018, the same buying power today is $6.71. Going the other way, $100 in September 2026 would have bought what $74.53 bought in 2018, and a $60,000 salary today has the buying power of a $44,715 salary in 2018.
If your pay in 2018 was, say, $1,000 a month, you would need about $1,342 a month in September 2026 to afford the same basket of goods and services. Remember that this is an average across consumer spending: some prices, such as housing, health care and tuition, have risen faster than the CPI, while others have risen more slowly.
How this 2018 inflation figure is calculated
The calculation divides the latest CPI-U (336.94 for September 2026) by the 2018 annual average (251.107): 336.94 ÷ 251.107 = 1.3418. Multiply any 2018 amount by 1.3418 to convert it to September 2026 dollars. The data is the CPI for All Urban Consumers, U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted (BLS series CUUR0000SA0), published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Use the calculator above to pick a specific month in 2018 or a different end date. See also $1 in 2017 and $1 in 2019. All years are on the main US inflation calculator page.