The Dollar Has Lost 97% of Its Value Since 1913 (To Scale)
A 1913 dollar is worth about 3 cents today by CPI — and about half a cent measured in gold, the money the dollar used to legally be: the dollar's purchasing power drawn to scale from the Fed's founding to 2026.
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Used For
Credit
Source
011899 $1 Silver Certificate, Black Eagle (hook composite, left)
U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing — photo via Wikimedia user Bruxton1899 Black eagle one dollar silver certificate.jpg / Public domain
02Modern $1 Federal Reserve Note (hook composite, right)
U.S. Bureau of Engraving and PrintingUnited States one dollar bill, obverse.jpg / Public domain
031922 $100 Gold Certificate (payable-in-gold inset)
U.S. Bureau of Engraving and PrintingUS $100 GC 1922.jpg / Public domain
04Smartphone in hand (goods triptych, left)
Dennis CortésBlack smartphone in hand (Unsplash).jpg / CC0
05Antibiotic capsule blister (goods triptych, middle)
Maksym KozlenkoAntibiotic pills.jpg / CC BY-SA 4.0
06Boeing 747 on approach (goods triptych, right)
Adrian PingstoneAir New Zealand Boeing 747-400 (ZK-SUH) arrives London Heathrow 17Oct2010 arp.jpg / Public domain
Data sources & references
01Inflation — US CPI-U all items (CPIAUCNS), Federal Reserve (FRED), 1913–2026; base month May 2026
02Gold — New York market price, annual average, MeasuringWorth (Officer & Williamson), 1913–2025
031913 gold parity — $20.67/oz (legal peg; $35 from 1934 to 1971)
04Current spot — Yahoo Finance, GC=F (as of 2026-06-29)