Inflation affects us all, but the rate at which we experience it will depend on our unique spending habits. Use the calculator below to estimate your personal inflation rate.
Why estimate your personal inflation rate?
For the past 30 years, inflation has been relatively stable across advanced economies, including the UK and US. In others it has even been deflationary, such as in Japan.
This has been turned on its head in 2022, with the shockwaves of a global pandemic, supply-chain disruptions and the war in Ukraine all contributing to a rapid rise in the costs of fuel, food and a broad range of goods. So much so, that major national economies have reached their first double-digit inflation rates since the 1980s.
These inflation rates — most often measured by the consumer price index, or CPI — are calculated based on a total “basket” of goods and services bought by all consumers in a national economy. They do not, however, necessarily represent the impact that inflation has on you.
For example, the latest UK national basket assumes that 9.8 per cent of household budgets are spent on personal transport, such as owning and using a car. While this may be representative of the UK as a whole, it may not be at all representative for you as an individual if, for example, you don’t own a car, or the amount you use it greatly differs from the national average.
This is where a personal inflation calculator can be useful. By taking data on national price changes, it allows you to estimate your experience of inflation, according to the constraints, priorities and preferences that shape your personal spending patterns.
Sources and methodology
Data and analysis by Ella Hollowood, Oliver Hawkins, Kentaro Takeda and Aiko Munakata.
Development, design and graphics by Bob Haslett and Ændra Rininsland.