The value of money
What is money from 1980 worth today?
Measured by U.S. consumer prices, a dollar from January 1980 takes 4.31 dollars to match today. Below, the standard amounts — and what they bought at the time.
1980 amounts, in today’s money
$1.00$4.31
$10.00$43.06
$100$431
$1,000$4,306
$10,000$43,057
$100,000$430,566
CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted · January 1980 to August 2026 · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
What $10,000 bought in 1980
Consumer prices answer what money buys in a shop. These answer what it commanded of something real.
GoldJanuary 1980 · World Bank Commodity Markets (Pink Sheet)14.81 oz of gold
Median new home sale priceQ1 1980 · U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development0.16 median new homes
Median US household income1980 · U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey ASEC0.56 years of household income
Had $10,000 been invested in 1980 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)$65,348
U.S. Large-Cap Equity Composite (total return)observation June 2026 · Robert J. Shiller, Yale University$2,083,997