The value of money
What is money from 2004 worth today?
Measured by U.S. consumer prices, a dollar from January 2004 takes 1.81 dollars to match today. Below, the standard amounts — and what they bought at the time.
2004 amounts, in today’s money
$1.00$1.81
$10.00$18.09
$100$181
$1,000$1,809
$10,000$18,087
$100,000$180,875
CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted · January 2004 to August 2026 · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
What $10,000 bought in 2004
Consumer prices answer what money buys in a shop. These answer what it commanded of something real.
GoldJanuary 2004 · World Bank Commodity Markets (Pink Sheet)24.15 oz of gold
Median new home sale priceQ1 2004 · U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development0.05 median new homes
Median US household income2004 · U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey ASEC0.23 years of household income
Had $10,000 been invested in 2004 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)$106,546
U.S. Large-Cap Equity Composite (total return)observation June 2026 · Robert J. Shiller, Yale University$99,505