Does anyone know a good way that I could calculate the price of something, adjusting for inflation?

Question

For example, if something cost $0.25 in 1914, approximately how much would it cost today?

Answer 1

There are a lot of online inflation calculators.  westegg.com  has a very straightforward one as was previously posted.  If you want to calculate the prices for London, Japan, or Italy for example, the inflation rate used in online calculators might not be the right one to use.

If you want to do a simple computation using given data, here are the steps to come up with the answer.  

Get the CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (CPI)  in 1914 and the current CPI and get the percentage change between the two CPI's.  After getting that, just multiply the original 1914 price with the percentage change.

Example:

1914 Annual Average CPI was 10.0

while June 2008 CPI was 218.815

percent change

=  (NEW CPI - OLD CPI) / OLD CPI

=  (218.815 - 10.0)/ 10.0

= 20.8815

= 2088.15%

If the original 1914 price was $0.25.

new price

= $0.25 x 2088.15%

= $.25 x 20.8815

= $5.22

*Data used is CPI for the U.S.

Answer 2

See http://www.westegg.com/inflation/