Use this inflation calculator to see how prices are changing: Inflation is the loss of purchasing power over time as prices rise. It is often expressed as a percentage and generally refers to a trend ...
and there are several ways to calculate it. The most common measure of U.S. inflation is the Department of Labor's Consumer Price Index (CPI), which uses a representative basket of goods and ...
according to the CPI inflation calculator on the BLS website. How the CPI is calculated To calculate the CPI, the bureau collects more than 80,000 prices per month from sellers and retailers in 75 ...
Since the CPI is updated and reported monthly, it can be used to estimate the rate of inflation over as short a period as a single month. How to Calculate Inflation Using the CPI To calculate an ...