CAGR Calculator
Enter a beginning value, an ending value and a time span to get the compound annual growth rate, or flip the mode to find how many years a target will take.
Compound annual growth rate
20.11% per year
Total growth over 5 years: 150.00%
CAGR = (25,000 / 10,000)^(1/5) − 1 = 20.11%
Year-by-year at 20.11% per year
| Period | Value | Gain vs start |
|---|---|---|
| Start | 10,000 | 0.00% |
| Year 1 | 12,011.24 | 20.11% |
| Year 2 | 14,427 | 44.27% |
| Year 3 | 17,328.62 | 73.29% |
| Year 4 | 20,813.83 | 108.14% |
| Year 5 | 25,000 | 150.00% |
Assumes perfectly steady compounding — real returns vary year to year. This is an estimate, not financial advice. Calculated on your device; nothing is sent anywhere.
How it works
- Enter the beginning value, the ending value and the number of years (decimals like 2.5 are fine).
- Read the CAGR result instantly, along with the substituted formula, total growth and a year-by-year compounding table.
- Switch to “Find years” mode to enter a target value and an assumed CAGR and see how long the growth would take.
Frequently asked questions
- How is CAGR calculated?
- CAGR is the ending value divided by the beginning value, raised to the power of one over the number of years, minus one: (end ÷ begin)^(1/years) − 1. It answers the question: what single yearly growth rate, compounded every year, would turn the starting amount into the ending amount over that period? The calculator shows this formula with your own numbers substituted in.
- What is the difference between CAGR and average annual return?
- A simple average adds up each year’s return and divides by the number of years, which overstates growth when returns are volatile. CAGR is a geometric mean: it accounts for compounding, so it reflects the rate you actually experienced from start to finish. For comparing investments or revenue growth over multiple years, CAGR is usually the more honest figure.
- Can I use partial years or monthly periods?
- Yes. The years field accepts decimals, so 30 months is 2.5 years and 18 months is 1.5 years. Using the exact fractional period matters: rounding 2.5 years down to 2 can shift the computed rate by several percentage points, especially over short spans.
- Does the calculator handle declining values or negative growth?
- It does, as long as both values are positive. If the ending value is below the beginning value, the CAGR comes out negative — for example a drop from 10,000 to 8,000 over 3 years is about −7.2% per year. CAGR is mathematically undefined when either value is zero or negative, and the tool tells you so instead of showing a misleading number.
- Is my financial data uploaded anywhere?
- No. Every calculation runs in JavaScript inside your browser tab, and the page makes no network requests with your inputs. You can enter real portfolio or company figures without them leaving your device, and the tool keeps working offline once loaded.
About this tool
Compound annual growth rate, or CAGR, is the standard way to express how fast something grew over a multi-year period as a single yearly percentage. Given a beginning value, an ending value and the number of years between them, this calculator returns the smoothed annual rate that connects the two — the rate an investment, a revenue line or a user base would have needed to grow every single year, with compounding, to travel from start to finish. It also reports the total growth over the whole period and lays out a year-by-year table so you can see the compounding path at that rate.
Everything runs client-side in your browser. The tool applies the standard formula (end ÷ begin)^(1/years) − 1 and displays it with your numbers substituted, so you can check the arithmetic or reuse it in a spreadsheet. Because the years field accepts decimals, you can measure any span precisely — 2.5 years, 7.25 years — which keeps short-period results accurate. No figures are sent to a server; entering confidential revenue or portfolio numbers is safe.
The reverse mode answers the complementary question: given a starting value, a target value and an assumed growth rate, how many years will it take? This is useful for retirement planning (how long until a portfolio doubles at 7%?), startup goal-setting (years to reach 1M users at 40% annual growth) and sanity-checking optimistic projections.
A practical tip: CAGR deliberately hides volatility. Two assets can share the same CAGR while one moved in a straight line and the other swung wildly, so pair the rate with a look at year-by-year results before drawing conclusions. Measuring from an unusually low starting point or into a peak also inflates the rate, so pick representative endpoints when comparing companies or funds.