CAGR Calculator — Compound Annual Growth Rate
Who this is for: For analysts and students who need the one growth number behind a multi-year change — revenue CAGR for a case, portfolio CAGR for a statement, market CAGR for a slide — and want the math shown.
Not the right tool for: Negative or zero starting values — growth from a negative base has no CAGR; describe the swing in dollars · Volatile paths — CAGR smooths drawdowns out of existence; look at the actual series before trusting it
Start value, end value, years — get the compound annual growth rate and the year-by-year path it implies.
Quick answer: CAGR = (end ÷ begin)^(1/years) − 1. $1,000 growing to $2,000 in 5 years is a CAGR of 14.87% (because 2 = 1.1487^5). It smooths the whole path into one steady rate — great for comparisons, dangerous if you forget it hides every drawdown in between.
Fractional years allowed
| Point | Value implied by the CAGR |
|---|---|
| Start | $1,000.00 |
| +1.00 yrs | $1,148.70 |
| +2.00 yrs | $1,319.51 |
| +3.00 yrs | $1,515.72 |
| +4.00 yrs | $1,741.10 |
| End (5 yrs) | $2,000.00 |
| Formula | CAGR = (end/begin)^(1/years) − 1 |
|---|---|
| Worked example | $1,000 → $2,000 in 5 years = 14.87% per year |
| Requires | Positive start value; fractional years allowed |
| Compiled | October 2026 |
What CAGR smooths over
CAGR is the single yearly rate that would take you from the beginning value to the ending value if growth were perfectly steady: CAGR = (end/begin)^(1/years) − 1. $1,000 becoming $2,000 over five years is a CAGR of 14.87% — two happens to be 1.1487^5. That smoothing is the feature and the trap: a portfolio that went +60%, then −40%, then +55% has a perfectly ordinary CAGR but a stomach-churning path, and the metric hides the drawdown entirely. It also only sees the two endpoints — five years of flat-then-spike and spike-then-flat produce identical CAGRs. Use it for headline comparisons across equal periods; look at the actual path before betting on persistence.
Common uses
- Revenue or user growth across annual reports and case exhibits
- Portfolio or fund performance between two statement dates
- Market-size projections ('the market grows at 6.78% CAGR')
- Reverse-engineering a goal: what growth rate does the plan require?
Where these numbers come from
All results are computed in your browser from the standard closed-form formulas (and a numerical root-finder where no closed form exists — rates, IRR, YTM). Formulas follow the ordinary-annuity (END) convention used by the BA II Plus and HP 12C. Educational reference only — not investment, tax, or accounting advice.