US M2 money supply
The US M2 money supply was $23.34 trillion in August 2026, 5.7% more than a year earlier. Since January 1959 it has grown 81 times over, while US consumer prices rose about 11.6 times.
- US M2 money supply $23.34tn Aug 2026, seasonally adjusted
- Growth over 12 months +5.7% To Aug 2026
- Times larger than in 1959 81.4× 6.7% a year on average
- $1 from 1913 in today’s money $33.89 US consumer prices
M2 money supply chart since 1959
US M2 money supply, monthly, log scale
How fast the money supply has grown
M2 growth over each period, against the rise in US consumer prices over the same months.
| Period | M2 growth | M2 a year | Prices a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last 12 monthsAug 2025 to Aug 2026 | +5.7% | 5.7% | 3.4% |
| Last 5 yearsAug 2021 to Aug 2026 | +12.0% | 2.3% | 4.1% |
| Last 10 yearsAug 2016 to Aug 2026 | +79.7% | 6.0% | 3.4% |
| Last 20 yearsAug 2006 to Aug 2026 | +237.0% | 6.3% | 2.5% |
| Since 1959Jan 1959 to Aug 2026 | +8044.7% | 6.7% | 3.7% |
In short
- Since 1959 M2 has grown 6.7% a year on average, against 3.7% for consumer prices.
- The fastest growth on record was 26.8% in the year to February 2021, after the pandemic stimulus.
- M2 then shrank, by as much as 4.6% a year in April 2023, the first fall since records began in 1959.
- $1 from 1913 needs to be $33.89 today to buy the same things.
M2 growth over the previous 12 months
Money printing against prices and assets
Growth from 1971, the year the dollar's link to gold ended, to 2026. Annual figures from our Illusion of Wealth dataset; consumer prices from the BLS.
| Measure | Times larger | A year |
|---|---|---|
| US M2 money supply | 33.8× | 6.6% |
| US consumer pricesBLS CPI-U | 8.19× | 3.9% |
| GoldUS dollars an ounce | 115× | 9.0% |
| S&P 500Price only | 72.4× | 8.1% |
| US house pricesTypical home | 16.7× | 5.3% |
Measured against M2
An asset that grew more slowly than M2 lost ground against the money supply, even if its price rose. The real returns pages run that test for shares, ETFs, gold and crypto, in dollars and pounds.
The figures are price changes only. Dividends, rent and costs are left out.
The dollar and the pound since 1913
What one unit of money from each year is worth in today's money, using consumer prices. The pound uses RPI before 1988.
Buying power of $1 and £1 held since January 1950
- US dollar
- Pound sterling
| Year | $1 then | £1 then |
|---|---|---|
| 1913 | $33.89 | n/a |
| 1950£ on RPI | $13.92 | £36.67 |
| 1960£ on RPI | $11.33 | £24.61 |
| 1970£ on RPI | $8.63 | £16.54 |
| 1980£ on RPI | $4.06 | £4.59 |
| 1990 | $2.56 | £2.57 |
| 2000 | $1.95 | £1.98 |
| 2010 | $1.54 | £1.61 |
| 2020 | $1.29 | £1.32 |
Money printing calculator
How much would you need today to own the same share of the US money supply as an amount held in an earlier year? And how did gold, the S&P 500 and US house prices compare?
Annual figures, 1926 to 2026, from our own dataset behind The Illusion of Wealth; the S&P 500 line is before dividends. Past performance doesn't predict future returns.
Money supply terms explained
- M2 $23.3tn
- Cash, current accounts, savings deposits, small time deposits and retail money market funds held by the US public. M1 is the narrower count of cash and current accounts.
- Quantitative easing
- The Federal Reserve buying government bonds and mortgage securities with newly created reserves. It ran from 2008 to 2014 and again from 2020 to 2022, and it is the main thing people mean by money printing.
- Log scale
- On the main chart each step up the axis is the same percentage rise, not the same dollar amount. That keeps the 1960s visible next to the trillions of today and makes steady growth look like a straight line.
Money supply questions
Answers use the latest Federal Reserve and BLS figures and update with each release.
What is the M2 money supply?
M2 is the Federal Reserve's broad count of money held by the US public: physical cash, current (checking) accounts, savings deposits, small time deposits under $100,000 and retail money market funds. It leaves out bank reserves held at the Fed and larger institutional balances. The latest monthly figure is $23.34 trillion for August 2026, seasonally adjusted. The Fed publishes it monthly in its H.6 release, a few weeks after each month ends.
We use M2 rather than M1 because the Fed folded savings deposits into M1 in May 2020, which makes M1 jump that year for reasons that have nothing to do with money printing.
How fast has the money supply grown?
Over the last ten years M2 grew 80%, or 6.0% a year. Since January 1959 the average is 6.7% a year, which compounds to 81 times the starting amount. The last five years are unusual: growth of 12% looks modest only because M2 fell in 2022 and 2023 after the jump of 2020 and 2021.
Is money printing the same as inflation?
No, and the gap between the two is the reason this site exists. CPI tracks what a basket of everyday goods and services costs; M2 counts the dollars. Since 1959 M2 has grown about 6.7% a year and consumer prices about 3.7%, so the money supply has outrun the weekly shop by a wide margin. When we put together the Illusion of Wealth series we kept finding that difference in share prices, house prices and gold rather than in the cost of bread.
The two can also part company for a year or more. M2 grew 26.8% in the year to February 2021, when CPI inflation was 1.7%. Prices caught up later: CPI peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, by which time M2 growth had slowed sharply.
What is $1 from 1913 worth today?
Using the average consumer price index for 1913 against August 2026, $1 then buys what $33.89 buys now. Put the other way, today's dollar buys about 3.0 cents' worth of 1913 goods, a loss of 97%. The pound has lost even more since 1948: £1 then is about £38.8 now, on RPI before 1988 and CPI after.
Why did the money supply fall in 2022 and 2023?
Two things happened at once. The Federal Reserve started raising rates from near zero in March 2022 and began shrinking its balance sheet that June, so it stopped creating the reserves that had fed deposit growth since 2020. Higher rates then pulled savers' money out of bank deposits and into Treasury bills and other holdings that M2 does not count. By April 2023 M2 was 4.6% smaller than a year before, the steepest fall in the Fed's series. Growth turned positive again in 2024.
Important information
Capital at risk. The value of investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Educational information only, not financial advice. Read our disclaimer.