The value of money
What is money from 1960 worth today?
Measured by U.S. consumer prices, a dollar from January 1960 takes 11.43 dollars to match today. Below, the standard amounts — and what they bought at the time.
1960 amounts, in today’s money
$1.00$11.43
$10.00$114
$100$1,143
$1,000$11,433
$10,000$114,328
$100,000$1,143,276
CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted · January 1960 to August 2026 · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
What $10,000 bought in 1960
Consumer prices answer what money buys in a shop. These answer what it commanded of something real.
GoldJanuary 1960 · World Bank Commodity Markets (Pink Sheet)285.71 oz of gold
Had $10,000 been invested in 1960 instead
A different question again: not what money could buy, but what it would have become. Equity figures include reinvested dividends.
Goldobservation August 2026 · World Bank Commodity Markets (Pink Sheet)$1,260,286
U.S. Large-Cap Equity Composite (total return)observation June 2026 · Robert J. Shiller, Yale University$8,154,926