Gold price history
Backtest goldJan 1871 – Nov 12, 2026, US dollars an ounce, Monthly averages
- Gold price
- $3,872Nov 12, 2026
- Last 12 months
- −7.7%Price change
- Last 10 years
- 12.2%A year
- Since 1971
- 8.5%A year
Gold price per ounce · US dollars
Gold prices by year
| Year | Average | Year end | Change | Inflation adj.Inflation adjusted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 through Nov 12 | $4,507 | $3,872 | −10.2% | $4,552 |
| 2025 | $3,442 | $4,309 | +62.7% | $3,581 |
| 2024 | $2,388 | $2,648 | +30.7% | $2,552 |
| 2023 | $1,943 | $2,026 | +12.7% | $2,139 |
| 2022 | $1,801 | $1,798 | +0.4% | $2,066 |
| 2021 | $1,800 | $1,790 | −3.7% | $2,229 |
| 2020 | $1,770 | $1,858 | +25.6% | $2,294 |
| 2019 | $1,393 | $1,479 | +18.3% | $1,827 |
| 2018 | $1,269 | $1,250 | −1.1% | $1,696 |
| 2017 | $1,258 | $1,264 | +9.3% | $1,721 |
Dollars an ounce. Year end is December's average, and 2026's is the close on Nov 12, 2026. Inflation adjusted is the average in today's dollars.
About gold price history
Gold was $3,872 an ounce on November 12, 2026, down 7.7% over the last 12 months. Over the last 10 years its price rose 12.2% a year, and since August 1971, when the US stopped selling gold for dollars, 8.5% a year.
Its highest month was February 2026, at $5,020. Its peak in the last century, January 1980, was $675 an ounce, or $2,912 in today's dollars. Today's price is 33% above that.
From 1879 to 1933 the US set gold's price at $20.67 an ounce, and from 1934 to 1971 at $35, so the price barely moved until the 1970s. Before 1879 it's the price in the paper dollars of the Civil War years, which traded below gold. Prices are monthly averages, and the last is the latest close.