Has my pay kept up with inflation? Pay and prices calculator
Put in your pay at an earlier date and your pay now. The calculator uses Stats NZ's consumers price index to show the pay you would need today to buy what your old pay bought, and whether your pay is ahead of prices or behind them. The prices run to the June 2026 quarter, the latest published.
Worked out for the example. Change the boxes to make it yours.
| Pay in the June 2021 quarter | $70,000 a year |
|---|---|
| Price index then | 1,082 |
| Price index, June 2026 quarter | 1,359 |
| Prices rose | +25.6% |
| Pay needed today to match | $87,921 a year |
| Your pay now | $80,000 a year |
| Your pay rose | +14.3% |
| Short of keeping level | $7,921 a year before tax |
| Your pay now in June 2021 quarter dollars | $63,694 a year |
- Prices are Stats NZ's consumers price index (all groups), quarterly, to the June 2026 quarter, published on 21 July 2026. The September 2026 quarter's figures are due on 22 October 2026.
- Each date uses the quarter it falls in. Pay is before tax, as the price index is.
Your Career, on the Career and Timesheets plan. Your account adds your earlier pay and your pay today to Pay in Your Career, after asking, where your pay is tracked over time and against prices.
How the calculator works
Stats NZ's consumers price index (CPI) measures how the prices households pay change over time. It is published each quarter as an index number, and dividing one quarter's number by another's gives how much prices moved between them. The pay you would need today is your earlier pay multiplied by the latest index and divided by the index for the quarter your earlier date falls in. Your real change is your pay now compared with that figure. In the example, the index was 1,082 in the June 2021 quarter and 1,359 in the June 2026 quarter, a rise of 25.6%, so $70,000 then is $87,921 now, and $80,000 is 9.0% behind.
How current the prices are
The table in the calculator is the CPI all groups index for New Zealand, from the March 2000 quarter to the June 2026 quarter, published by Stats NZ on 21 July 2026. Prices rose 1.5% in that quarter and 4.1% in the year to it. The September 2026 quarter is due on 22 October 2026, and until then the earlier date needs to be before 1 April 2026, because prices since a date in the June 2026 quarter or later are not published yet. A date inside a quarter uses that quarter's index, because the CPI is an average across the quarter rather than a price on a single day.
What the comparison leaves out
The CPI is an average across households. Rent, mortgage payments, petrol and food weigh on some households far more than others, so your own costs may have moved faster or slower. The comparison is also before tax, because both the CPI and pay figures are: a rise that only keeps level before tax can leave you slightly behind after it, because the extra dollars are taxed at your top rate. And the CPI says nothing about what pay for your kind of work has done. Stats NZ's labour cost index measures that: salary and wage rates rose 2.0% in the year to the June 2026 quarter.
Using the answer
A gap to keeping level is a fact you can take to a pay review. Our article Has your pay kept up with prices? explains real wages in more depth, and asking for a pay rise covers how to raise it with your employer. For national figures, see New Zealand pay in numbers.
Questions
How do I work out if my pay has kept up with inflation?
Multiply your old pay by the latest consumers price index and divide by the index for the quarter you were paid it. If your pay now is lower than the answer, it has not kept up. The calculator does this with Stats NZ's quarterly index.
What was inflation in New Zealand in the last year?
Stats NZ's consumers price index rose 4.1% in the 12 months to the June 2026 quarter, published on 21 July 2026. The September 2026 quarter is due on 22 October 2026.
How much have prices gone up since 2021?
From the June 2021 quarter to the June 2026 quarter, the consumers price index rose from 1,082 to 1,359, which is 25.6%. A salary of $70,000 then needs to be $87,921 now to buy the same.
Should I use my pay before or after tax?
Before tax, the figure on your employment agreement. The CPI comparison is a before-tax one; after tax, a rise that only keeps level leaves you slightly behind, because extra dollars are taxed at your top rate.
What happens when I save the result?
Your account adds two entries to Pay in Your Career, after asking: your earlier pay on its date and your pay now on today's date. Your Career is part of the Career and Timesheets plan.
Sources
- Stats NZ: Consumers price index, June 2026 quarter.
- Stats NZ: Consumers price index, June 2026 quarter, index numbers (CSV).
- Stats NZ: consumers price index (CPI) indicator.
- Stats NZ: Labour market statistics, June 2026 quarter.
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