What $100 in 1917 was worth — measured in gold

The price of gold didn't get more expensive. The value of the US dollar fell.

99.5%

of the US dollar's value, gone — measured in gold, since 1917.
It now takes 196× more dollars to buy the same ounce.

In 1917, $100 bought 4.84 oz of gold at $20.67/oz. Held as metal, that same money is worth $19,561 at today's gold price of $4,043/oz (spot as of 2026-08-02).

Same $100. Three rulers.

Measure	$100 from 1917, today	Multiple
Official story — CPI-U (BLS)	$2,618	26.2×
In gold — honest weight, valued today	$19,561	196×

The gap between 26.2× (CPI) and 196× (gold) is the distance between the official story and the honest ruler. (M2 data begins later in the record.)

1917 in the fiat story

This is where the series begins: the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, and the CPI record starts the same year. Gold was not a market price but the law itself — the dollar was defined as 1/20.67 of an ounce. The First World War was financed with the new central bank's balance sheet, and the pattern of the century was set in its first decade.

Try your own numbers

The In Gold calculator runs any amount and any year — USD from 1913.

← $100 in 1916 $100 in 1918 →

Method. Gold weight = amount ÷ the gold price of that year; "today" figures rebase the same amount by CPI, money supply, and gold spot. Deterministic — no estimates, no models, no AI in the number path. Annual averages. Sources: FRED CPIAUCNS, FRED M2SL, MeasuringWorth, GoldAPI live spot. Not financial advice. In Gold — the calculator · API
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