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Another roof, another proof.

livesince Oct 2026

Personal inflation calculator

A two-minute estimate of your own inflation rate, and whether your pay and savings are keeping up.

The official inflation number is an average. Yours is what your household actually pays, and school, housing and healthcare tend to rise faster than the average.

You don’t need receipts. Answer by feel, and the estimate turns your answers into rough numbers: your personal inflation rate, whether your pay and your savings are keeping up, how much of your rising costs is lifestyle, and whether you have enough cash for the job risk you’re carrying. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

Quick estimate · about 2 minutes

How badly am I losing?

No receipts needed. Answer by feel; the estimate updates as you go. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

1 How do you pay for housing?
2 Compared with a year ago, what are you paying?

Count everything you spend now, including anything you upgraded. Size is how much of your monthly spending it takes. Guess; "big" is your largest bill or two.

SpendingShare of budgetChange since last year
Housingrent, or mortgage plus property tax and home insurance
Foodgroceries and eating out
Healthcarepremiums, copays, prescriptions
Childcare and schooldaycare, tuition, activities
Getting aroundcar payment, gas, car insurance, transit
Utilities and phonepower, water, internet, phone
Everything elseclothes, travel, subscriptions
3 Did your life get more expensive on purpose?

Some of what you pay more for is the same stuff costing more. Some is choosing more or nicer stuff. Check anything that happened in the last year.

Of your higher spending, how much comes from those choices?
4 How did your household's pay change over the last year?
5 How safe is that income for the next year?

Think about layoffs at work, a slowing industry, a contract ending, or one earner carrying the household.

6 Where do your savings sit?
Cash in the bank
Bonds, CDs, Treasuries
Stocks and retirement funds
Home or rental equity
7 Do you carry a credit card balance month to month?
Your personal inflation rate
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Prices only. Official core PCE: 3.0% (August 2026)
Lifestyle growth
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Your pay vs. your costs
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Your savings vs. your costs
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Cushion
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    How the estimate works
    • Your personal inflation rate is a weighted average of your answers in step 2. "A bit more" counts as 3%, "noticeably more" 7%, "a lot more" 12%, "way more" 20%, "cheaper" −2%. Budget size sets the weight: small 1, medium 2, big 4.
    • Lifestyle growth splits your higher spending into prices and choices. If you say "about half" came from upgrades, half of the increase counts as lifestyle and comes out of your inflation rate.
    • Pay vs. costs is your pay change minus your inflation. The verdict also checks total spending, lifestyle included, against your pay.
    • Cushion compares months of bills you could cover against your job risk: about 3 months if income is very secure, 6 with some risk, 9 with real risk. When the cushion is short, building it comes before everything else.
    • Savings vs. costs blends rough long-run returns by where your savings sit ("most" counts three times "some"): your bank rate for cash, 4.5% for bonds and CDs, 8% for stocks, 4% for home equity. These are assumptions, not forecasts.
    • It's a rough read meant to show direction, not a financial plan.

    For what’s behind the numbers, and what to do if you’re losing, read Inflation is a tax. Debasement is a transfer. To see whether policy is wearing down the dollar itself, check the debasement tracker.