Play · inflation & purchasing power
Inflation Time Machine
Updated 2026-07-25 · Sources: 1 · Real CPI-U data 1913 to 2025
The third servant buried his master's money and returned it intact: same coins, same count. This machine shows what "intact" really means once time is involved. It runs on the U.S. government's actual Consumer Price Index, every year since 1913: no estimates, no models, just the recorded prices.
Predict first
$100 cash, buried in 1995 and dug up in 2025 (30 years). How much of its buying power is left?
Pick an estimate, or skip to your own numbers.
Data: CPI-U annual average, US city average, all items (1982-84=100), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Public Data API (series CUUR0000SA0, annual averages, period M13) (source, fetched 2026-07-25). Cross-checked against usinflationcalculator.com CPI table and FRED CPIAUCNS monthly data (annual means recomputed) on 2026-07-25; all 113 years agree. 2025 annual average (321.943) is the official BLS figure computed without October 2025, whose CPI release was cancelled during the government shutdown.
But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.Matthew 25:18
KJV. In the ancient world burying coin was the safe choice. The parable's charge is fear and idleness, and the machine above shows the modern price of that same 'safety': the coins survive; their power to buy does not.