What a dollar and a pound still buy.
A US dollar from 1913 buys 2.9¢ of the same goods and services in September 2026: American prices are 34 times higher. A dollar from August 1971, when its last link to gold was cut, buys 12¢. A British pound from 1913 buys 0.59p; one from 1971, 4.9p.
That is what holding fiat currency costs: it is built to buy a little less every year. Official data, updated 2 November 2026.
Prices ×34
88% lost
Prices ×170
95% lost
What a dollar and a pound from 1913 buy
$1 and £1 at 1913's average prices, in each year since, to September 2026
Two lines fall from 1 in 1913. The dollar's falls to 2.9¢ by September 2026; the pound's to 0.59p. Prices fell in the 1920s and early 1930s, so both lines rise for a while; since 1956 the dollar's has fallen every year but 2009.
The y axis is purchasing power as a share of 1913's: 100% is what $1 or £1 bought then.
The numbers
| Year | $1 of 1913 buys | £1 of 1913 buys |
|---|---|---|
| 1913 | 100¢ | 100p |
| 1920 | 49¢ | 39p |
| 1930 | 59¢ | 57p |
| 1940 | 71¢ | 49p |
| 1950 | 41¢ | 30p |
| 1960 | 33¢ | 20p |
| 1970 | 25¢ | 13p |
| 1980 | 12¢ | 3.7p |
| 1990 | 7.6¢ | 2.0p |
| 2000 | 5.7¢ | 1.5p |
| 2010 | 4.5¢ | 1.1p |
| 2020 | 3.8¢ | 0.85p |
| September 2026 | 2.9¢ | 0.59p |
How much has the dollar lost since 1913?
1913 is the year the Federal Reserve was created: President Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act on 23 December 1913. At that year's average prices, a dollar then buys 2.9¢ of goods and services in September 2026. The dollar has lost 97% of its purchasing power, an average rise in prices of 3.2% a year, compounded, for more than a century.
How much has the dollar lost since 1971?
On 15 August 1971 the United States stopped converting dollars into gold for other governments, and the dollar became a pure fiat currency. A dollar from August 1971 buys 12¢ in September 2026. Prices are 8.3 times higher, a rise of 3.9% a year. More on that month in what happened in 1971, and on the loss since in real purchasing power since 1971.
What has happened to the British pound?
The pound has lost more. At 1913's average prices, £1 buys 0.59p in September 2026: UK prices are about 170 times higher, a rise of 4.6% a year. A pound from August 1971 buys 4.9p.
These UK figures use the Retail Prices Index, the only ONS series that reaches back to 1913. The RPI is no longer an accredited official statistic and tends to run hotter than the CPI. On the CPI, linked to the ONS's modelled back series, a 1971 pound buys 7.7p: a smaller loss, but still a loss of 92%. The method is in what is fiat money?
Did prices always rise?
No. Between 1920 and 1933, average prices fell by about 35% in the United States and 38% in Britain, so money bought more each year for much of that time. Since 1956, American prices have fallen in only one calendar year, 2009. In Britain, prices have fallen in only one year since 1933: 2009. Whether falling prices are a problem is its own question: is deflation bad?
Why does fiat currency lose purchasing power?
Nothing fixes how much of it can exist. New money is created by central banks and, mostly, by commercial banks when they lend (how fiat money is created), and both central banks aim for prices to rise. The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England each target inflation of 2% a year. At a steady 2%, money buys half as much after about 35 years: within a working life. The wider picture is in what is inflation?
What inflation has done to a sum of money
US dollar or British pound, any year from 1913 to September 2026
$832is what $100 of goods and services from 1971 cost in September 2026
12¢is what a US dollar saved in 1971 buys in September 2026
3.9%a year, on average, over 55 years
What a dollar and a pound from each decade buy now
| From | $1 buys | US prices | £1 buys | UK prices |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1913 | 2.9¢ | ×34 | 0.59p | ×170 |
| 1920 | 5.9¢ | ×17 | 1.5p | ×66 |
| 1930 | 5.0¢ | ×20 | 1.0p | ×96 |
| 1940 | 4.2¢ | ×24 | 1.2p | ×82 |
| 1950 | 7.1¢ | ×14 | 2.0p | ×50 |
| 1960 | 8.8¢ | ×11 | 2.9p | ×34 |
| 1970 | 12¢ | ×8.7 | 4.4p | ×23 |
| 1980 | 24¢ | ×4.1 | 16p | ×6.3 |
| 1990 | 39¢ | ×2.6 | 30p | ×3.3 |
| 2000 | 51¢ | ×2.0 | 40p | ×2.5 |
| 2010 | 65¢ | ×1.5 | 53p | ×1.9 |
| 2020 | 77¢ | ×1.3 | 69p | ×1.4 |
Each row compares that year's average prices with September 2026. Every year since 1913 is in the CSV below.
What about bitcoin?
Bitcoin's supply is fixed by its rules at 21 million, and no central bank or government can add to it. Measured in fiat, its price moves. One bitcoin is always one bitcoin. You don't price bitcoin; you price things in bitcoin, and over the long windows the site measures, everyday things have got cheaper in it: the cost of living in bitcoin.
Use this data
Download every year since 1913 as a CSV: both indices' annual averages, and what one unit from each year buys in September 2026. Free to use with credit to The Bitcoin Transition and a link to this page. To put the chart on your own site, paste this:
<iframe src="https://thebitcointransition.org/embed/purchasing-power" title="Purchasing power of the dollar and pound since 1913" width="100%" height="640" style="border:0" loading="lazy"></iframe>Questions
How much is a 1913 dollar worth today?
A dollar at 1913's average prices buys 2.9¢ of the same goods and services in September 2026. Put the other way, you need about $34 now to buy what $1 bought then. Source: BLS CPI-U.
How much purchasing power has the dollar lost since 1971?
A dollar from August 1971, the month the US stopped converting dollars into gold for other governments, buys 12¢ in September 2026: a loss of 88%. US consumer prices are 8.3 times higher.
How much has the British pound lost since 1913?
A pound at 1913's average prices buys 0.59p in September 2026, on the ONS RPI long-run series: UK prices are about 170 times higher. A pound from August 1971 buys 4.9p.
Why does money lose purchasing power?
Because the supply of fiat currency is not fixed, and its central banks aim for prices to rise. The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England both target inflation of 2% a year. At a steady 2%, money buys half as much after about 35 years.
Can I use this data and chart?
Yes. The annual figures are free to download as a CSV, and the chart can be embedded on another site. Please credit The Bitcoin Transition and link to this page; the underlying indices belong to the BLS and the ONS.
Sources and method
- United States: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U, all items, US city average, not seasonally adjusted (1982-84 = 100), monthly from January 1913. A year's figure is the average of its monthly values. The 2025 average uses 11 months: the BLS did not collect October 2025 data during the lapse in federal appropriations.
- United Kingdom: Office for National Statistics, Retail Prices Index: Long run series: 1800 to 2024: Jan 1974=100 (CDKO), annual values, and monthly values from June 1947.
- “Now” is September 2026, the latest month both agencies have published. The 1971 figures compare August 1971 with September 2026, month to month.
- Figures are this site's arithmetic on the official indices, refreshed from the agencies on 2 November 2026. They are history, not a forecast.