Look Back Or Look Ahead

The Dollar Time Machine

A dollar's worth of everyday goods in compared to

type either year directly. "To" starts on the current year.

Assumed growth, for any year past this basis's data 3.2%/yr

Defaults to this basis's own ~110-year average. Drag it to try your own assumption — this is a projection, not a forecast.

…today’s dollars, just to keep pace
$11.79
1957 → 2026, priced in everyday goods

Flip it around — a dollar in 2026, in everyday-goods terms, only stretches as far as 8.5¢ did back in 1957.

what a 1957 dollar's buying power has done since, measured this way