What is $1 from 2021 worth today?
$1 in 2021 is worth $1.24 in September 2026, based on the official Consumer Price Index. Prices have risen 24% since 2021, an average of 4.27% a year over 5 years. In other words, prices have doubled about 0.3 times, and a dollar today buys 80.4% of what it bought in 2021.
The same ratio applies to any amount: $20 from 2021 is worth $24.87, $100 is worth $124.35 and $1,000 is worth $1,243 in today's dollars.
Inflation in 2021
The CPI-U averaged 270.97 in 2021, up 4.7% from 258.811 in 2020. From December 2020 to December 2021, prices rose 7.0%. This was the period of the post-pandemic reopening. Ranked by annual inflation, 2021 is number 28 of the 112 years from 1914 to 2025.
In the 2020s, annual inflation averaged 3.9% a year (over the 6 years with data). The highest rate was 8.0% in 2022 and the lowest 1.2% in 2020.
2021 prices in today's money, and today's prices in 2021 money
If something cost $5 in 2021, the same buying power today is $6.22. Going the other way, $100 in September 2026 would have bought what $80.42 bought in 2021, and a $60,000 salary today has the buying power of a $48,253 salary in 2021.
If your pay in 2021 was, say, $1,000 a month, you would need about $1,243 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 2021 inflation figure is calculated
The calculation divides the latest CPI-U (336.94 for September 2026) by the 2021 annual average (270.97): 336.94 ÷ 270.97 = 1.2435. Multiply any 2021 amount by 1.2435 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 2021 or a different end date. See also $1 in 2020 and $1 in 2022. All years are on the main US inflation calculator page.