Pay Decay Calculator
Same paycheck. Less purchasing power. See what inflation has done to your pay, year by year, and the raise you need to keep up.
Your pay, over time
Your pay stays in your browser. Only the country and years are sent to load inflation.
Your purchasing power
Loading annual inflation for Canada…
World Bank · annual consumer price inflation
Completed calendar years only. Recent data may lag; current and future years need your own estimates. Custom rates are assumptions.
Year-by-year breakdown
Edit inflation or actual pay. Results update automatically.
| Year | Inflation (%) | Annual pay (CAD) | Pay needed to keep up | Real pay (2020 dollars) | Real gain / loss | Real change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020Base year | Baseline | $75,000.00 | $75,000.00 | $75,000.00 | $0.00 | 0.00% |
| 2021 | Rate needed | With annual raise | — | — | — | — |
| 2022 | Rate needed | With annual raise | — | — | — | — |
| 2023 | Rate needed | With annual raise | — | — | — | — |
| 2024 | Rate needed | With annual raise | — | — | — | — |
| 2025 | Rate needed | With annual raise | — | — | — | — |
Real gain / loss and real change compare with starting pay, in 2020 dollars. Inflation is shown to 3 decimals; automatic calculations use full source precision. Blank rate edits restore the selected source.
How is pay decay calculated?
The base year is your starting point. We compound inflation from the next year through your end year: price factor = (1 + first rate / 100) × (1 + next rate / 100), and so on.
Real pay = that year’s pay ÷ price factor. Pay needed to keep up = starting pay × price factor. A 10% rise in prices means unchanged pay buys 9.09% less, because 1 ÷ 1.10 = 0.9091.
Annual CPI compares annual-average prices, so this is a year-to-year comparison, rather than a calculation from a particular payday. National CPI may differ from your personal spending. Pay raises apply before that year’s comparison.
Use consistent annual pay amounts. Taxes, benefits, exchange rates, and changes in hours worked are excluded. Currency is a display unit; no conversion is performed. Historical currency changes are not adjusted.
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