The value of money
What is money from 2006 worth today?
Measured by U.S. consumer prices, a dollar from January 2006 takes 1.69 dollars to match today. Below, the standard amounts — and what they bought at the time.
2006 amounts, in today’s money
$1.00$1.69
$10.00$16.89
$100$169
$1,000$1,689
$10,000$16,893
$100,000$168,926
CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted · January 2006 to August 2026 · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
What $10,000 bought in 2006
Consumer prices answer what money buys in a shop. These answer what it commanded of something real.
GoldJanuary 2006 · World Bank Commodity Markets (Pink Sheet)18.18 oz of gold
Median new home sale priceQ1 2006 · U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development0.04 median new homes
Median US household income2006 · U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey ASEC0.21 years of household income
Had $10,000 been invested in 2006 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)$80,200
U.S. Large-Cap Equity Composite (total return)observation June 2026 · Robert J. Shiller, Yale University$85,181