What $100 in 1931 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 1931.
It now takes 196× more dollars to buy the same ounce.

In 1931, $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 1931, today	Multiple
Official story — CPI-U (BLS)	$2,205	22.0×
In gold — honest weight, valued today	$19,561	196×

The gap between 22.0× (CPI) and 196× (gold) is the distance between the official story and the honest ruler. (M2 data begins later in the record.)

1931 in the fiat story

The bust arrived, and in 1933 the response was Executive Order 6102: private gold ownership was outlawed and citizens were ordered to surrender their coin at $20.67. The confiscation preceded the devaluation — the sequence matters, and it is why pre-1971 figures here are notional by design.

Try your own numbers

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

← $100 in 1930 $100 in 1932 →

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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