The value of money
What is money from 2012 worth today?
Measured by U.S. consumer prices, a dollar from January 2012 takes 1.48 dollars to match today. Below, the standard amounts — and what they bought at the time.
2012 amounts, in today’s money
$1.00$1.48
$10.00$14.78
$100$148
$1,000$1,478
$10,000$14,779
$100,000$147,786
CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted · January 2012 to August 2026 · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
What $10,000 bought in 2012
Consumer prices answer what money buys in a shop. These answer what it commanded of something real.
GoldJanuary 2012 · World Bank Commodity Markets (Pink Sheet)6.05 oz of gold
Median new home sale priceQ1 2012 · U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development0.04 median new homes
Median US household income2012 · U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey ASEC0.20 years of household income
Had $10,000 been invested in 2012 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)$26,669
U.S. Large-Cap Equity Composite (total return)observation June 2026 · Robert J. Shiller, Yale University$73,814