US Inflation CalculatorHighest and lowest US inflation years
Ranked from the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, years 1914 to 2024 (the change in the yearly average index).
The 20 highest
| Rank | Year | Inflation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1917 | 17.8% |
| 2 | 1918 | 17.3% |
| 3 | 1920 | 15.6% |
| 4 | 1919 | 15.2% |
| 5 | 1947 | 14.4% |
| 6 | 1980 | 13.5% |
| 7 | 1979 | 11.3% |
| 8 | 1974 | 11.1% |
| 9 | 1942 | 10.9% |
| 10 | 1981 | 10.3% |
| 11 | 1975 | 9.1% |
| 12 | 1946 | 8.5% |
| 13 | 2022 | 8.0% |
| 14 | 1951 | 7.9% |
| 15 | 1948 | 7.7% |
| 16 | 1916 | 7.7% |
| 17 | 1978 | 7.6% |
| 18 | 1977 | 6.5% |
| 19 | 1973 | 6.2% |
| 20 | 1982 | 6.1% |
The 10 biggest falls in prices
The highest year in this data is 1917 at 17.8%, and the largest fall is in 1921 at -10.9%. Out of 111 years, 13 had falling average prices.
What the ranking shows
- 26 of the 111 years had inflation of 5% or more, and 10 had 10% or more.
- The decade with the highest average yearly inflation in this data is the 1910s (10.0% a year on average), and the lowest is the 1930s (-2.0%).
- The years with the highest inflation are not all close together: tap a year in the table to see the years around it.
- The ranking uses the change in the yearly average index. Other methods, such as December to December, give slightly different yearly rates, but the ordering of the extreme years is much the same.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted, index 1982-84 = 100 (series CUUR0000SA0), January 1913 to October 2026, read through the BLS public data API (bls.gov/cpi) on 13 November 2026.
- BLS shows no value for October 2025 in the data, so that month is left out; yearly figures are the average of the 12 months and are shown only for 1913 to 2024.
- Every result is index arithmetic: amount × (index in the later month ÷ index in the earlier month).
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics read on 13 November 2026; latest month October 2026. This site is independent and not connected with the BLS or any government. The CPI is an average of urban consumer prices and measures nothing about your own spending. Results are estimates, not financial advice.