The value of money
What is money from 1970 worth today?
Measured by U.S. consumer prices, a dollar from January 1970 takes 8.86 dollars to match today. Below, the standard amounts — and what they bought at the time.
1970 amounts, in today’s money
$1.00$8.86
$10.00$88.62
$100$886
$1,000$8,862
$10,000$88,619
$100,000$886,190
CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted · January 1970 to August 2026 · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
What $10,000 bought in 1970
Consumer prices answer what money buys in a shop. These answer what it commanded of something real.
GoldJanuary 1970 · World Bank Commodity Markets (Pink Sheet)285.71 oz of gold
Median new home sale priceQ1 1970 · U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development0.42 median new homes
Median US household income1970 · U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey ASEC1.14 years of household income
Had $10,000 been invested in 1970 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$3,821,642