What if you invested $1,000 in PayPal in 2015? (Inflation-Adjusted)

PYPL · Financial · Adjusted to 2026 dollars using BLS CPI-U data

View nominal (non-adjusted) version

Nominal returns can be misleading over long periods. $1,000 in PayPal in 2015 became $1,176 by 2026. Over those 11 years, cumulative CPI inflation reached 39% (BLS CPI-U). Restating the return in constant purchasing power, the real value of your gain in 2015 dollars is $846, a real annualized return of -1.5%.

Nominal final value

$1,176

+17.6% total return

Real value (2015 dollars)

$846

-15.4% real total return

Real annualized return

-1.5%

vs. +1.4% nominal annualized

Cumulative CPI-U inflation since 2015: 39% (1 dollar in 2015 = $1.39 in 2026)

Year-by-Year (Inflation-Adjusted)

$1,000 in PayPal since 2015, values in constant 2015 dollars

YearNominal ValueReal Value (2015 $)
2015$1,000$1,000
2016$934$920
2017$1,028$991
2018$2,205$2,062
2019$2,294$2,096
2020$2,943$2,646
2021$6,055$5,183
2022$4,443$3,484
2023$2,106$1,591
2024$1,585$1,163
2025$2,289$1,647
2026$1,365$982

Inflation adjustment uses BLS CPI-U annual data, deflated to 2026 dollars. Nominal stock data from Yahoo Finance (split-adjusted closing prices). Real values are expressed in constant 2015 purchasing-power dollars. For informational and educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. See our methodology and full disclaimer.