Finance

CAGR Calculator

Free CAGR calculator: find the compound annual growth rate from a start and end value, with total return, growth multiple and a year-by-year schedule.

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Initial value ($)

Final value ($)

Years

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Enter the start value, end value, and years above.

Deep dive guides

A LITTLE CONTEXT · 4 MIN READHow CAGR Reveals Real Growth

All 4 related guides

How CAGR Reveals Real Growth — The compound annual growth rate explained: why you can't divide total return by years, average vs geometric returns, CAGR vs ROI, and the rule of 72.
How Investment Fees Compound Against You — Where fees hide, why a 1% fee removes about a quarter of a 30-year balance, how the cost scales with time, and which costs you can actually control.
Geometric Mean vs Arithmetic Mean — One average adds, one multiplies: the geometric mean formula, volatility drag on returns, the AM–GM inequality, and when each is correct.
ROI Explained: Simple Return, Annualized Return and the Time Trap — Profit over cost is easy; making returns comparable across different holding periods is where annualizing comes in.

How cagr calculator works

Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is the constant year-over-year rate that would grow an initial value into a final value over a given number of years. The formula is CAGR = (finalValue / initialValue)^(1 / years) - 1. It smooths out volatility into a single steady-growth number, so a $1,000 investment that becomes $2,000 in 5 years has a CAGR of about 14.87%.

Enter the beginning value, the ending value, and the number of years. The calculator returns the CAGR as a percentage, the total return over the full period, the growth multiple (ending divided by beginning), and a year-by-year projected balance assuming the value compounds at the constant CAGR.

CAGR describes the smoothed growth rate only — it hides the path volatility in between. An investment that doubles smoothly and one that doubles after a 60% drawdown share the same CAGR. Use it as a comparability yardstick, not a forecast. All math runs in your browser.

Frequently asked questions

What is the CAGR formula?

CAGR = (finalValue / initialValue) raised to the power of (1 / years), minus 1. For $1,000 growing to $2,000 over 5 years: (2000/1000)^(1/5) - 1 = 2^0.2 - 1, about 14.87% per year.

Can years be fractional?

Yes. Years can be any positive number, including fractions like 3.5. The year-by-year schedule lists each whole year plus the final fractional point so the last row always matches your ending value.

Does CAGR account for cash flows during the period?

No. CAGR assumes a single beginning and ending value with no deposits or withdrawals in between. If you added or withdrew money, use a time-weighted or internal-rate-of-return measure instead; CAGR would over- or under-state the true growth.

How is CAGR different from average annual return?

A simple average of yearly returns can overstate growth because it ignores compounding. CAGR is the geometric mean, so it always reproduces the exact ending value when applied as a constant rate — that is why it is the standard for comparing investments held over different periods.

What if the investment loses everything or goes negative?

A final value of zero is a total loss and is reported as a CAGR of −100% per year. A negative starting or ending value makes CAGR mathematically undefined (no constant growth rate turns a negative into a positive), so the calculator refuses the input rather than returning a misleading number.

CAGR Calculator

Year-by-year growth at the CAGR

Deep dive guides

How cagr calculator works

Frequently asked questions

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