CAGR Calculator
Compound annual growth rate from a start value, end value and years — or the end value from a rate — with total growth and a year-by-year table.
CAGR Calculator: with the default inputs, cagr is 7.18%.
Used when solving for the growth rate.
Decimals are fine: 30 months = 2.5 years.
Used when solving for the end value. Negative for a decline.
- End value
- $20,000.00
- Total growth
- 100%
- Absolute change
- $10,000.00
- Growth multiple
- 2End ÷ start. 2.0 means it doubled.
- Time to double at this rate
- 10Years, from ln 2 ÷ ln(1 + rate).
Assumptions
- Growth compounds once per year; fractional years use the same continuous formula.
- No contributions or withdrawals between the start and end values.
| Year | Value | Gain since start |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | $10,000 | $0 |
| 1 | $10,718 | $718 |
| 2 | $11,487 | $1,487 |
| 3 | $12,311 | $2,311 |
| 4 | $13,195 | $3,195 |
| 5 | $14,142 | $4,142 |
| 6 | $15,157 | $5,157 |
| 7 | $16,245 | $6,245 |
| 8 | $17,411 | $7,411 |
| 9 | $18,661 | $8,661 |
| 10 | $20,000 | $10,000 |
How this is worked out
The formula
CAGR = (end value ÷ start value)^(1 ÷ years) − 1 End value = start value × (1 + CAGR)^years Total growth = end value ÷ start value − 1 Doubling time = ln 2 ÷ ln(1 + CAGR)
Open How it’s calculated above to see this worked through with your own numbers.
What you enter
- Solve for
- Choose one of 2 options.Growth rate (from start, end and years) · End value (from start, rate and years)
- Start value
- A number.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 10000
- End value
- Used when solving for the growth rate.in dollars · 0 or more · defaults to 20000
- Years
- Decimals are fine: 30 months = 2.5 years.from 0.01 to 200 · defaults to 10
- Annual growth rate
- Used when solving for the end value. Negative for a decline.a percentage · from -99.99 to 1000 · defaults to 7.18
What you get back
- CAGRmain answer
- End value
- Total growth
- Absolute change
- Growth multiple
- End ÷ start. 2.0 means it doubled.
- Time to double at this rate
- Years, from ln 2 ÷ ln(1 + rate).
What this assumes
- Growth compounds once per year; fractional years use the same continuous formula.
- No contributions or withdrawals between the start and end values.
About this calculator
Compound annual growth rate answers "if this had grown at one steady rate every year, what would that rate have been?" It smooths out the bumps between a start value and an end value into a single yearly percentage, which makes it the standard way to describe how fast revenue, users, a portfolio or a house price grew — and to compare growth over different lengths of time.
Using it
Enter what the thing was worth at the start, what it's worth now, and how many years passed (fractions are fine). Or flip the mode to project forward: start value, an assumed rate, and years gives the end value — handy for "what will $10,000 be at 7% in 10 years?" or for checking whether a forecast's growth rate is plausible.
CAGR vs. average annual return
If an investment goes up 50% one year and down 50% the next, the average of the yearly returns is 0% but you've lost a quarter of your money. CAGR reports the −13.4% a year that actually happened, because it works from the start and end values only. That's its strength and its blind spot: it tells you nothing about the volatility in between, and it's blind to money added or withdrawn along the way. Two companies with the same 5-year CAGR could have had very different rides.
Rule of 72
A quick check: dividing 72 by the growth rate in percent gives the approximate doubling time. At 7.18% (the rate that exactly doubles money in 10 years) 72 ÷ 7.18 ≈ 10. The calculator shows the exact doubling time from ln 2 ÷ ln(1 + r).
Reading the results
- CAGR is the headline annual rate.
- Total growth is the plain percentage change over the whole period — 100% for a doubling — which people often confuse with the annual rate.
- Growth multiple is end ÷ start; investors say "a 2× over ten years".
- The table and chart trace the smooth compound path year by year; the real path was almost certainly bumpier.
Use consistent, inflation-adjusted values if you want a real growth rate, and be wary of CAGRs computed over very short periods or from a tiny starting base — a $100 business growing to $1,000 is a 900% total but not a meaningful rate.
Frequently asked questions
▸How do I calculate CAGR?
Divide the end value by the start value, raise the result to the power of 1 ÷ years, and subtract 1. $100 growing to $200 over 10 years: (200 ÷ 100)^(1/10) − 1 = 7.18% a year.
▸What's the difference between CAGR and total growth?
Total growth is the overall percentage change (doubling is 100%). CAGR is the steady yearly rate that would produce that change over the period (doubling in 10 years is 7.18% a year).
▸Can CAGR be negative?
Yes. If the end value is below the start value, CAGR is negative — a decline from $200 to $100 over 10 years is −6.7% a year. It can't be computed if either value is zero or negative.
▸Is CAGR the same as average annual return?
No. The arithmetic average of yearly returns overstates growth when returns vary; CAGR (the geometric mean) reflects what actually compounded. The gap grows with volatility.
▸What's a good CAGR?
Context decides. The S&P 500 has returned about 10% a year over long periods (about 7% after inflation). Early-stage companies can post 50–100%+ from a small base; a mature business growing 5–10% is healthy.
Put this calculator on your own site
A working cagr, free for any site, with no ads and no sign-up. It resizes to fit wherever you paste it and updates itself as this page improves.
Paste this anywhere. It works on any site, carries no ads, never expires, and always shows the current version.
CAGR Calculator by CalculateItNow
The page's own title. The clearest description of what the link leads to.
The credit line sits outside the widget on purpose, so it is a real link on your page rather than one buried in a frame. Please keep it — it is what pays for CalculateItNow staying free and ad-free. The script only resizes the widget to fit its contents; drop it and the widget still works.
Browse every calculator widget·How to add it to WordPress, Squarespace or Wix
Related calculators
The questions people ask next to a cagr.
Return on investment and annualized ROI from what you put in, what you got back and how long it took, with the work shown and ROI vs CAGR vs IRR explained.
See how a lump sum plus regular deposits grows with daily, monthly, quarterly or annual compounding — with a year-by-year table, chart and inflation adjustment.
Project investment growth with monthly contributions, annual raises, fund expense ratios and inflation — with a yearly split of what you invested vs. earned.
Find what percent one number is of another, take a percentage of a number, or calculate percentage increase and decrease — with the working shown.
Units and revenue needed to break even from fixed costs, price and variable cost per unit, plus contribution margin and a target-profit option.