Gold Price History · The Free-Float Era

1985

The Plaza Accord

The world’s major economies agreed to drive the dollar down — a tailwind that briefly lifted gold.

Average price
$317/oz
In 2025 dollars
$949/oz
Change on the year
−12.0%
After inflation
−15.0%

1985 in context · real value, 1965–2005

1970198019902000 $949
Inflation-adjusted to 2025 dollars. See all 768 years →

In September 1985, the major industrial nations signed the Plaza Accord, a coordinated effort to weaken an overvalued US dollar. A falling dollar is typically bullish for gold, and the metal found a floor and firmed in the accord's wake after years of decline. The relief was modest and the broader bear market still had years to run, but the Plaza Accord marked one of the few genuine tailwinds gold enjoyed in an otherwise bleak decade.

Key events of 1985

  1. 1985-09-22

    Plaza Accord

    Major economies agree to weaken the dollar; gold firms on the prospect.

What would $10,000 of gold in 1985 be worth today?

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

Calculate 1985 →

How gold did in 1985

Value at year-end of $10,000 invested on 1 January 1985.

Gold
$8,802 −12.0%
S&P 500 (total return)
$13,124 +31.2%
US housing
$10,602 +6.0%
Inflation (CPI)
$10,356 +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 →