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CAGR Calculator
Find the smoothed annual growth rate between a starting and ending value. Your inputs stay in this browser.
Live calculator
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What this calculator measures
Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) smooths an uneven multi-year change into a single, comparable annual rate. It answers 'what constant yearly growth rate would have produced this result?', which is useful for comparing investments, revenue, or any metric that grew over more than one year.
CAGR describes the path from the beginning value to the ending value; it does not describe what happened in between. A metric that grew unevenly, or that dropped and recovered, can show the same CAGR as one that grew steadily.
Formula
Inputs and variables
- Beginning value
- Enter the money amount used by this formula.
- Ending value
- Enter the money amount used by this formula.
- Number of years
- Enter the value used by this formula.
How to use the calculator
- Choose a display currency when money fields are present.
- Enter values that cover the same period, scope, and currency.
- Review the result, formula, and worked example before using the estimate in a decision.
- Change one assumption at a time to understand what drives the result.
Worked example
- 1Beginning value is $10,000 and ending value is $16,000 after 5 years.
- 2$16,000 / $10,000 = 1.6.
- 31.6 raised to the power of (1/5) is about 1.0986, so CAGR is about 9.86%.
How to interpret the result
A CAGR of 9.86% means the value grew as if it compounded at 9.86% every year, even if the real year-by-year growth was uneven.
Common mistakes and limits
- Using CAGR to predict future growth, applying it to a period with a negative beginning value, or comparing CAGRs calculated over different lengths of time.
Frequently asked questions
Is CAGR the same as average annual growth?
No. A simple average of yearly percentage changes ignores compounding and can differ meaningfully from CAGR.
Can CAGR be negative?
Yes, when the ending value is lower than the beginning value.
Does CAGR account for volatility?
No. It only compares the start and end points, not the path between them.