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Purchasing power of gold & silver
How much gold or silver does it actually take to buy a median U.S. home, or pay a year of in-state public tuition? Indexed in ounces, not dollars. Multi-decade charts since the 1960s.
Since 1963 · gold vs median U.S. home
Ounces of gold to buy a median U.S. home
In 1976: ~342 oz. The chart shows what happened next.
Since 1963 · silver vs median U.S. home
Ounces of silver to buy a median U.S. home
In 1976: ~9,727 oz. The chart shows what happened next.
Since 1971 · gold vs in-state public college
Ounces of gold to buy one year of in-state public college
In 1971: ~12 oz. The chart shows what happened next.
Since 1971 · silver vs in-state public college
Ounces of silver to buy one year of in-state public college
In 1971: ~282 oz. The chart shows what happened next.
Looking for the indexed-growth view instead?
The /vs comparison surface shows the same data normalized to 100 at the start year — useful for comparing growth rates across home prices, S&P 500, college tuition, and inflation simultaneously. The purchasing-power view above asks the simpler question: how many ounces did it take to buy this thing?