Federal Reserve H.6 M2 money stock
What would that cost in today's money supply?
This calculator converts a past dollar amount by the growth in M2, the Federal Reserve's broad measure of money in the economy.
Methodology
This calculator uses U.S. M2 Money Stock from FRED series M2SL, published monthly by the Federal Reserve. For each selected year, it uses the last available monthly M2 observation in that calendar year, usually December. The end date uses the latest available M2 observation.
The M2-adjusted value is calculated as:
amount × (M2 at end date / M2 at start date)
This shows how many dollars would be needed to represent the same share of broad money supply over time. It is not CPI inflation and should not be read as a claim that consumer prices rise one-for-one with M2. Consumer prices are also affected by velocity, real output, productivity, imports, credit conditions, asset markets, and changes in money demand.
Treat this as a monetary debasement / money-supply lens, complementary to CPI.
The CPI comparison uses the same start and end months where FRED CPIAUCSL has observations; if a month is unavailable, it uses the latest prior CPI observation.
Data source: Federal Reserve M2 via FRED M2SL, monthly, seasonally adjusted.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL
CPI comparison
M2 vs CPI comparison
CPI measures changes in a consumer price basket. M2 measures broad money supply growth. This comparison is informational and is not investment advice.
Loading CPI-U comparison from FRED series CPIAUCSL.
Historical price context
What everyday prices looked like
Nominal prices are messy, but they make the scale easier to feel. M2 shows how much the dollar supply changed; these examples show how selected everyday prices changed over roughly the same period.
These are nominal historical prices, not M2-derived values.
Federal Reserve data
The M2 series starts in January 1959.
- First observation
- 1959
- Latest observation
- Latest M2 stock
FRED M2SL chart
The money supply curve, straight from FRED.
This is the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED chart for M2SL. It shows the monthly M2 money stock in billions of dollars, with shaded areas marking U.S. recessions.
Examples
Common comparisons
Why M2?
What M2 Shows That CPI Doesn't
CPI measures the average price movement of a consumer basket. That is useful for official cost-of-living adjustments, but it can miss a broader monetary question: how much larger did the pool of dollars become?
M2 tracks currency, checking deposits, savings deposits, small time deposits, and retail money market funds. Indexing by M2 shows how much an amount would need to grow to keep the same share of broad money. This can be more relevant for savings, assets, long-run purchasing power, and eras where newly created money flows unevenly through the economy.
The limitation: M2 is not the official inflation rate. Prices also depend on real output, velocity, productivity, credit conditions, global dollar demand, quality changes, and where new money enters first. Treat this as a money-supply-adjusted calculator, not a replacement for CPI or PCE.
Sources
Data from the Federal Reserve Data Download Program for H.6 Money Stock Measures, series . FRED mirror: M2SL. CPI comparison uses FRED CPIAUCSL, U.S. CPI-U, seasonally adjusted. CPI background: BLS CPI FAQ.