Gold to Silver Ratio: Today and Since 1960
As of October 9, 2026, one ounce of gold buys 69.0 ounces of silver, at $4,194 and $60.82 an ounce. The September 2026 monthly average was 66.9, higher than 64.2% of all months since 1960. The Gold Barometer reads 33 out of 100.
One email per zone change
Get one email the day gold buying conditions enter a new zone. Up or down.
Since 1971 that has happened 94 times, about twice a year. The last time was March 2026.
What the record says
The September 2026 average of 66.9 sits above the middle month since 1960, in the 60 to 80 band. A year earlier the ratio stood at 85.7, and the record high of 111.5 came in April 2020.
Today's band holds 264 months since 1971. Five years later, the ratio was lower in 46.7% of those cases, with a middle reading of 70.7. Over those five years gold's price changed by a median +12.0% and silver's by +7.0%, before inflation.
The band is a set of eras, not hundreds of separate bets. Its 264 months come mostly from 1987 to 1990, 1995 to 1997, 2001 to 2004. The ratio has no fixed home: the middle month was 26.9 in the 1960s and 82.0 so far in the 2020s.
What the ratio is, and how this page measures it
The gold to silver ratio is the price of one ounce of gold divided by the price of one ounce of silver. A ratio of 80 means one ounce of gold buys 80 ounces of silver. The figure at the top divides the day's gold price by the day's silver price. Everything below it uses the World Bank monthly average prices for both metals, from January 1960. Each month is one number, and every month is measured the same way.
Two windows are used. The decades, the years, the highs and the lows run from 1960, the whole series. What followed is measured on the record from 1971, the window every other page on this site uses.
The ratio by decade since 1960
| Decade | Months | Middle month | Lowest month | Highest month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 120 | 26.9 | 16.4 (June 1968) | 38.9 (January 1960) |
| 1970s | 120 | 32.4 | 18.4 (January 1970) | 46.2 (June 1973) |
| 1980s | 120 | 50.6 | 17.4 (January 1980) | 75.7 (October 1986) |
| 1990s | 120 | 73.9 | 43.7 (February 1998) | 98.4 (February 1991) |
| 2000s | 120 | 60.5 | 47.4 (December 2006) | 79.2 (December 2008) |
| 2010s | 120 | 68.9 | 34.7 (April 2011) | 90.6 (June 2019) |
| 2020s so far | 81 | 82.0 | 51.6 (January 2026) | 111.5 (April 2020) |
Monthly average prices, World Bank commodity price data, both metals in US dollars per troy ounce. Before 1968 the gold price was fixed at $35 an ounce, so the 1960s ratio moved only with silver.
What followed, by where the ratio stood
Each row is a band of months since 1971, sorted by the ratio of that month. Read across for where the ratio stood one and five years later, and how each metal's own price moved over the same stretch.
| Ratio in the month | Months since 1971 | Middle ratio | Ratio 1 year later | Lower after 1 year | Ratio 5 years later | Lower after 5 years | Gold, 5 years later | Silver, 5 years later |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| under 40 | 123 | 33.1 | 34.9 | 27.6% of 123 | 40.5 | 25.2% of 123 | +127.0% | +103.4% |
| 40 to 60 | 175 | 52.0 | 55.4 | 26.0% of 173 | 66.6 | 15.0% of 173 | +26.8% | -12.7% |
| 60 to 80 (today) | 264 | 70.9 | 71.8 | 44.1% of 256 | 70.7 | 46.7% of 246 | +12.0% | +7.0% |
| 80 or more | 107 | 85.8 | 83.1 | 58.1% of 105 | 74.4 | 83.6% of 67 | +8.7% | +35.0% |
Ratios later and price changes are medians of the months in the band, before inflation, from the same monthly averages. A month counts in a later column only once that much time has passed. The recent months of the highest band have no five-year figure yet. The band under 40 holds 123 months, all between 1971 and 2011, mostly 1971 to 1973, 1973 to 1974, 1975 to 1980. Those were the years of the 1970s inflation, when both metals rose many times over.
Does a high ratio mean silver is cheap?
That is what the ratio is usually watched for, and the record gives a measured answer rather than a rule. From months that read 80 or more, the ratio was lower five years later in 83.6% of cases. Silver's price rose by a median +35.0% over those five years, gold's by +8.7%. From months between 40 and 60, the opposite. The ratio was lower five years later in only 15.0% of cases, gold changed by +26.8% and silver by -12.7%.
Two cautions belong next to those figures. The high band holds 107 months from 1990 to 1993, 2018 to 2020, 2024 to 2025, a handful of eras. The share is the share of those eras, not of independent events. And a ratio can rise with both metals falling, as from 2011 to 2013, when silver fell further than gold. The ratio says which metal moved more. It does not say which way.
The highest and lowest months
Highest monthly averages since 1960
- 111.5 in April 2020
- 106.8 in March 2020
- 105.3 in May 2020
- 100.9 in May 2025
- 99.9 in April 2025
Lowest monthly averages since 1960
- 16.4 in June 1968
- 16.7 in December 1967
- 16.8 in March 1968
- 17.0 in July 1968
- 17.1 in May 1968
By calendar year, the highest average was 89.8 in 1991 and the lowest 18.1 in 1968. Since 1960, 107 months read 80 or more and 255 read under 40.
The ratio by year since 1960
One row per calendar year: the average of the twelve monthly ratios, and each metal's yearly average price in US dollars per troy ounce. The current year is included as far as it goes.
| Year | Ratio, average of the months | Gold, yearly average | Silver, yearly average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 38.9 | $35 | $0.90 |
| 1961 | 38.6 | $35 | $0.91 |
| 1962 | 32.8 | $35 | $1.07 |
| 1963 | 27.1 | $35 | $1.29 |
| 1964 | 26.9 | $35 | $1.30 |
| 1965 | 26.9 | $35 | $1.30 |
| 1966 | 26.9 | $35 | $1.30 |
| 1967 | 23.2 | $35 | $1.56 |
| 1968 | 18.1 | $39 | $2.16 |
| 1969 | 22.9 | $41 | $1.79 |
| 1970 | 20.3 | $36 | $1.77 |
| 1971 | 26.9 | $41 | $1.54 |
| 1972 | 34.5 | $58 | $1.68 |
| 1973 | 38.2 | $97 | $2.55 |
| 1974 | 34.2 | $159 | $4.69 |
| 1975 | 36.6 | $161 | $4.41 |
| 1976 | 28.6 | $125 | $4.38 |
| 1977 | 31.9 | $148 | $4.63 |
| 1978 | 35.6 | $193 | $5.42 |
| 1979 | 29.7 | $307 | $11.11 |
| 1980 | 32.0 | $608 | $20.80 |
| 1981 | 44.4 | $460 | $10.53 |
| 1982 | 47.9 | $376 | $7.94 |
| 1983 | 37.4 | $423 | $11.42 |
| 1984 | 44.5 | $361 | $8.15 |
| 1985 | 51.9 | $318 | $6.13 |
| 1986 | 67.7 | $368 | $5.44 |
| 1987 | 64.5 | $446 | $7.01 |
| 1988 | 67.1 | $437 | $6.52 |
| 1989 | 69.3 | $381 | $5.52 |
| 1990 | 79.6 | $384 | $4.84 |
| 1991 | 89.8 | $362 | $4.04 |
| 1992 | 86.9 | $344 | $3.96 |
| 1993 | 83.9 | $360 | $4.31 |
| 1994 | 72.8 | $384 | $5.28 |
| 1995 | 74.0 | $384 | $5.21 |
| 1996 | 74.7 | $388 | $5.20 |
| 1997 | 67.9 | $331 | $4.91 |
| 1998 | 53.4 | $294 | $5.56 |
| 1999 | 53.4 | $279 | $5.22 |
| 2000 | 56.3 | $279 | $4.96 |
| 2001 | 61.8 | $271 | $4.39 |
| 2002 | 67.6 | $310 | $4.59 |
| 2003 | 74.6 | $364 | $4.88 |
| 2004 | 61.7 | $409 | $6.66 |
| 2005 | 61.0 | $445 | $7.30 |
| 2006 | 52.7 | $604 | $11.56 |
| 2007 | 52.1 | $697 | $13.38 |
| 2008 | 60.4 | $872 | $15.00 |
| 2009 | 67.0 | $973 | $14.65 |
| 2010 | 62.0 | $1,225 | $20.15 |
| 2011 | 45.0 | $1,569 | $35.23 |
| 2012 | 53.8 | $1,670 | $31.14 |
| 2013 | 59.7 | $1,412 | $23.86 |
| 2014 | 66.7 | $1,266 | $19.07 |
| 2015 | 73.9 | $1,161 | $15.72 |
| 2016 | 73.2 | $1,249 | $17.16 |
| 2017 | 73.8 | $1,258 | $17.06 |
| 2018 | 80.9 | $1,269 | $15.72 |
| 2019 | 85.9 | $1,393 | $16.22 |
| 2020 | 88.8 | $1,770 | $20.54 |
| 2021 | 71.8 | $1,800 | $25.17 |
| 2022 | 83.1 | $1,801 | $21.78 |
| 2023 | 83.1 | $1,943 | $23.41 |
| 2024 | 84.7 | $2,388 | $28.27 |
| 2025 | 88.1 | $3,442 | $39.80 |
| 2026 (9 months) | 62.6 | $4,552 | $73.48 |
Why one of the two metals is worth so much more than the other is on why gold is so valuable. The whole monthly series, both prices and the ratio, is one file: gold-silver-ratio.csv. World Bank commodity price data, CC BY 4.0. The gold price alone, by year and after inflation, is on the gold price history page. Where today's gold price stands against its own past is on is gold expensive right now.
The instrument behind these numbers
The Gold Barometer scores buying conditions for gold alone, from seven measured conditions. Silver is not one of them, and the ratio does not enter the score. This page exists because readers bring the question to the record. The record can answer it with the same open series the rest of the site uses.
- Buying conditions today
- Unfavorable
- Months like this since 1971
- 153
- Gold to silver ratio today
- 69.0
Which of the seven conditions moved this month is on why is gold going up or down. Each condition has its own page.
Related questions
- Gold price history since 1971, before and after inflation
- Is gold expensive right now?
- How much gold each country holds
Common questions
What is the gold to silver ratio today?
69.0 ounces of silver for one ounce of gold, as of October 9, 2026. The September 2026 monthly average was 66.9. A year earlier it was 85.7, five years earlier 76.5.
What is the historical average of the gold to silver ratio?
The median month since 1960 is 56.6, and since 1971 it is 63.2. The average has drifted up over the decades: 26.9 in the 1960s, 73.9 in the 1990s, 82.0 so far in the 2020s.
What were the highest and lowest gold to silver ratios on record?
On monthly averages since 1960, the highest was 111.5 in April 2020 and the lowest 16.4 in June 1968. Single days went further in both directions, but a monthly average never shows one day's extreme.
Does a high ratio mean silver is cheap and will outpace gold?
The record says it has, more often than not, but not every time. From the 107 months since 1971 that read 80 or more, the ratio was lower five years later in 83.6% of cases. By the same count, silver's price change beat gold's. One year later, the ratio was lower in 58.1% of cases. Today's ratio is in the 60 to 80 band, where five years on the ratio was lower in 46.7% of cases.
Why does this figure differ from the one on other sites?
Three reasons. Other pages divide a live gold price by a live silver price, which changes by the minute. The day's figure above comes from one pair of prices, read once a day. The record on this page uses World Bank monthly average prices, published under an open licence, so each month is one number. And the daily London prices that most charts rest on are licensed and cannot be republished.
Today's reading, with the buyer's verdict and the evidence behind it, is on the home page. One email goes out the day the reading moves to a new zone, in either direction. The sign-up is just below.
One email per zone change
Get one email the day gold buying conditions enter a new zone. Up or down.
Since 1971 that has happened 94 times, about twice a year. The last time was March 2026.