Gold Price History · Interwar Chaos

1937

Average price
$35/oz
In 2025 dollars
$785/oz
Change on the year
+0.0%
After inflation
−3.5%

1937 in context · real value, 1917–1957

1920193019401950 $785
Inflation-adjusted to 2025 dollars. See all 768 years →

In 1937, gold averaged $35 an ounce — about $785 in today's money. That was up 0.0% on the year in nominal terms (−3.5% after inflation). These were the turbulent interwar decades — war finance, the Depression, and the 1933–34 devaluation reshaped the monetary order, even as the official US price was pinned first at $20.67 and then at $35.

To see 1937 in the full sweep of the gold price, explore the 768-year ribbon, or find out what a 1937 gold investment would be worth today on the gold calculator.

What would $10,000 of gold in 1937 be worth today?

Run the numbers across gold, stocks, housing, and bonds — adjusted for inflation.

Calculate 1937 →

How gold did in 1937

Value at year-end of $10,000 invested on 1 January 1937.

Gold
$10,000 +0.0%
S&P 500 (total return)
$6,466 −35.3%
US housing
$10,247 +2.5%
Inflation (CPI)
$10,360 +3.6%

Annual-average basis. Gold: Officer & Williamson; S&P 500 & Treasuries: Damodaran (NYU); housing: Shiller; CPI: BLS. Methodology →

Related years

Sources. Gold price: Officer & Williamson, The Price of Gold, 1257–Present (annual average); inflation adjustment by US CPI (BLS / Officer & Williamson). Asset comparison from the calculator dataset. Figures are annual averages. Full methodology →