CAGR calculator
Turn a starting value, an ending value and a period into a yearly growth rate, and see what a rate does to a starting amount.
Calculator
Assumes one amount at the start and nothing added or taken out since.
CAGR
+12.47%
a year, compounded
- Total return
- +80.00%
- Multiple
- 1.80×
- Period
- 5.00 years
- Same rate for 10 years
- $32,400
- Same rate for 20 years
- $104,976
The 10 and 20 year rows are what the starting value becomes if the same rate continued. They are arithmetic, not a forecast.
On this page4 sections
What CAGR is
Compound annual growth rate is the steady yearly return that would take a starting value to an ending value over the same time. It lets you compare a five-year result with a twelve-year one.
CAGR = (ending value / starting value) ^ (1 / years) − 1
- $10,000 grows to $18,000 in 5 years.
- 18,000 / 10,000 = 1.8
- 1.8 ^ (1/5) = 1.1247
- CAGR = 12.47% a year. The total return is 80%.
Using dates
If you enter two dates instead of a number of years, the period is the days between them divided by 365.25. That is the same convention our backtests use, so a CAGR from this page matches the one on a strategy page for the same values and dates.
What CAGR hides
- The path. Two investments with the same CAGR can have very different worst years. CAGR says nothing about the falls along the way. Pair it with max drawdown.
- Short periods. Annualising three months turns a 5% gain into about 22% a year. We do not show a CAGR for less than one year in the product, and the calculator warns you when you ask for one.
- Start and end dates. Start at a market low and end at a high and almost anything looks good.
- Money added or withdrawn. CAGR assumes one deposit at the start and nothing since. With regular contributions you need a money-weighted return instead.
- Costs, taxes and inflation, unless you have already taken them out of the ending value.
Average return is not CAGR
- Year one: +50%. Year two: −50%.
- Average yearly return: 0%.
- But $100 becomes $150, then $75. CAGR is −13.4% a year.
Read next
- How each number is computedThe exact definition of total return, CAGR, volatility, Sharpe, max drawdown, hit rate and turnover as our engine calculates them.
- Drawdown recovery calculatorA fall needs a larger gain to undo it. Enter a drawdown to see the gain required, and how long that takes at a steady return.
- Costs in a backtestEvery trade in our backtests pays a cost, on by default. What is charged, what is not, and why turnover decides how much it matters.
Something here wrong or unclear? Tell us. Informational only, not investment advice.