Compound annual growth rate — from start and end values, with a year-by-year table.
From your starting value and years above, this shows the ending value a given compound annual growth rate would produce.
CAGR smooths a bumpy ride into one steady yearly rate — it is the rate that would take the start value to the end value if growth were perfectly even every year.
compound annual growth rate
Year-by-year growth at this CAGR
| Year | Value | Growth that year |
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How to use this tool
Type the value at the beginning of the period — an investment balance, a company's revenue, a population, anything that grows. This cagr calculator works for any numbers, not just money.
Type the value at the end and how many years passed between the two figures. The cagr formula needs all three numbers: start, end and time.
The headline result is the compound annual growth rate — the steady yearly rate that would take the start value to the end value. Below it you also get the total growth percentage and the year-by-year table.
Open Advanced options and set a target CAGR to see what ending value it would produce from your starting value over the same years.
Formula & worked example
Worked example: an investment grows from $10,000 to $20,000 over 10 years. CAGR = (20,000 ÷ 10,000)^(1/10) − 1 = 2^0.1 − 1 = 7.18% per year. Total growth is 100% and the growth multiple is 2.00×. Going the other way, $10,000 growing at a 10% CAGR for 10 years reaches $10,000 × 1.10^10 = $25,937.42. That is how to calculate cagr — and what cagr meaning really is: the single steady rate behind a bumpy journey.
Limitations — read this before you rely on it
CAGR describes the average, not the actual path: an investment that doubled one year and halved the next has a very different risk from one that grew steadily, even with the same CAGR. It also ignores any money added or withdrawn during the period — for cash-flow cases, an IRR calculation fits better. CAGR needs a positive starting value and a known period.
Frequently asked questions
CAGR (compound annual growth rate) is the steady yearly rate that would take a starting value to an ending value over a number of years, if growth were perfectly even. $10,000 to $20,000 over 10 years is a 7.18% CAGR.
Divide the ending value by the starting value, raise it to the power of 1 ÷ years, and subtract 1. For example: (20,000 ÷ 10,000)^(1/10) − 1 = 7.18%. This calculator does it instantly and shows the year-by-year table too.
A simple average of yearly growth rates overstates the result when growth varies, because losses hit a smaller base. CAGR is the geometric average — the one rate that actually reproduces the ending value when applied every year.
Yes. If the ending value is below the starting value, the CAGR is negative: $20,000 falling to $10,000 over 10 years is a −6.70% CAGR. It still describes the steady yearly rate, just downwards.
No. ROI is the total return over the whole period (doubling is a 100% ROI), while CAGR spreads it per year (7.18% a year over 10 years). ROI ignores time; CAGR is the right figure for comparing growth over different periods.