What $100 in 2008 was worth — measured in gold

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

78.4%

of the US dollar's value, gone — measured in gold, since 2008.
It now takes 4.6× more dollars to buy the same ounce.

In 2008, $100 bought 0.11 oz of gold at $872/oz. Held as metal, that same money is worth $464 at today's gold price of $4,043/oz (spot as of 2026-08-02).

Same $100. Three rulers.

Measure	$100 from 2008, today	Multiple
Official story — CPI-U (BLS)	$156	1.6×
Money created — M2 money supply	$295	3.0×
In gold — honest weight, valued today	$464	4.6×

The gap between 1.6× (CPI) and 3.0× (M2) is official inflation understating the money actually created. The gap between 3.0× and 4.6× (gold) is the flight to hard money — gold outrunning even the printing.

2008 in the fiat story

The Global Financial Crisis brought the first rounds of quantitative easing — the polite term for creating money to buy the government's own debt. Gold answered with $1,900 by September 2011.

Try your own numbers

The In Gold calculator runs any amount and any year — USD from 1913, or see 2008 in AUD.

← $100 in 2007 $100 in 2009 →

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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