The value of money
What is money from 2021 worth today?
Measured by U.S. consumer prices, a dollar from January 2021 takes 1.28 dollars to match today. Below, the standard amounts — and what they bought at the time.
2021 amounts, in today’s money
$1.00$1.28
$10.00$12.81
$100$128
$1,000$1,281
$10,000$12,806
$100,000$128,059
CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted · January 2021 to August 2026 · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
What $10,000 bought in 2021
Consumer prices answer what money buys in a shop. These answer what it commanded of something real.
GoldJanuary 2021 · World Bank Commodity Markets (Pink Sheet)5.36 oz of gold
Median new home sale priceQ1 2021 · U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development0.03 median new homes
Median US household income2021 · U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey ASEC0.14 years of household income
Had $10,000 been invested in 2021 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)$23,626
U.S. Large-Cap Equity Composite (total return)observation June 2026 · Robert J. Shiller, Yale University$21,186