Gold & silver vs. major asset classes
Indexed historical comparisons of gold and silver against home prices, college tuition, and inflation across multi-decade time ranges.
What did gold and silver actually beat?
Indexed to 100 at each pair's start year, gold has outpaced US median home prices, in-state public college tuition, and CPI inflation across the full long-run window (1971–present). Silver has tracked CPI roughly flat and lagged home prices and tuition over the same span — the divergence widened sharply post-2000 when silver's industrial-demand share grew but its monetary-premium share shrank. Per-pair charts and annotated period notes below.
Gold since 1987
Gold vs. home prices
median U.S. home prices (Case-Shiller)
Gold since 1971
Gold vs. college tuition
4-year public, in-state tuition + required fees (NCES)
Gold since 1971
Gold vs. inflation (CPI)
consumer price index, all urban consumers (BLS via FRED)
Silver since 1987
Silver vs. home prices
median U.S. home prices (Case-Shiller)
Silver since 1971
Silver vs. college tuition
4-year public, in-state tuition + required fees (NCES)
Silver since 1971
Silver vs. inflation (CPI)
consumer price index, all urban consumers (BLS via FRED)