CAGR Calculator

How to use the CAGR calculator

Enter the beginning value — what something was worth at the start — and the ending value at the end of the period. Then either type the number of years between them, or fill in a start year and end year and the gap is worked out for you. The compound annual growth rate updates instantly — there's no button to press and nothing is sent anywhere.

Worked example. Say an investment grew from $1,000 to $2,500 over 5 years. Enter 1000, 2500, and 5. The calculator returns a CAGR of about 20.1% per year and a total growth of 150%. Notice the two numbers are very different: 150% spread over 5 years isn't 30% a year, because each year's growth compounds on the last.

The big number is the CAGR: the single yearly rate that, compounded each year, turns the beginning value into the ending value. Below it you'll see the total growth across the whole period, and a year-by-year table showing the value as if it grew by that exact rate every year.

For a quick mental check on an annual return, the Rule of 72 calculator estimates how fast money doubles at a given rate.

Everything runs in your browser — the numbers you type are never uploaded. CAGR is a smoothed average; real returns vary year to year. These figures are estimates, not financial advice.

What CAGR tells you — and what it hides

CAGR is the standard way to compare growth across different time spans on equal footing. Because it reduces everything to one annual rate, you can fairly put a fund that grew over 3 years next to one that grew over 7, or compare revenue growth at two companies of different ages. That comparability is why analysts, investors, and finance teams reach for CAGR instead of raw total return.

Its main limitation is that it is a smoothed average — it shows the steady rate that would have produced the result, not the bumpy path that actually happened. A stock that lost 40% one year and doubled the next can carry the same CAGR as one that crept up steadily. CAGR also says nothing about volatility or risk, and it can be misleading over very short periods or when the beginning value is unusually high or low (the start and end points dominate the result).

CAGR vs average annual return. A simple average of yearly returns almost always overstates real growth, because it ignores compounding and the order of gains and losses. CAGR (a geometric mean) reflects what you actually ended up with, which is why it's the more honest figure for multi-year performance.

If you want to see how a fixed CAGR plays out year by year, use this tool's year-by-year table. To project a known rate forward instead, the compound interest calculator grows a balance at a set rate over time.

Common CAGR questions

What is CAGR? CAGR is the Compound Annual Growth Rate — the constant yearly rate that would take a beginning value to an ending value over a number of years, as if it grew by the same percentage every year.

How is CAGR calculated? CAGR = (ending value ÷ beginning value)^{1 ÷ years} − 1. For example, $1,000 growing to $2,000 over 10 years is about 7.18% a year.

CAGR vs total growth — what's the difference? Total growth is the simple overall change across the whole period. CAGR turns that into a per-year rate that accounts for compounding, so 100% total growth over 10 years is only about 7.2% CAGR.

Can CAGR be negative? Yes. If the ending value is lower than the beginning value, CAGR is negative — the value shrank by that percentage each year on average.

What is CAGR used for? Comparing investments, fund returns, revenue or user growth, and any value that changes over time, even across different time spans.