Gold and silver are not two versions of the same trade. Since January 1970, gold has compounded at 4.8% a year after inflation and silver at 2.4%. Silver’s price swings have run roughly twice as wide as gold’s, in both directions. Silver fell 90.7% from its January 1980 peak and has never regained that level in inflation-adjusted terms. The two metals also move together often enough that holding both is closer to one position than two. This page publishes both records side by side, alongside the storage and tax costs, and leaves the choice to the reader.
Key takeaways
- Gold has returned 4.8% a year after inflation since January 1970; silver has returned 2.4%. Over the ten years to August 2026, the two are nearly level.
- Silver’s annualized volatility has been about twice gold’s: 26.0% against 15.2% from 1960 to 2026, and 26.1% against 12.1% over the last ten years.
- A buyer at the January 1980 silver peak has lost purchasing power for 46 years; in August 2026 dollars the price is still about 61% below that peak.
- At August 2026 prices, $100,000 buys about 1.6 pounds of gold or 105 pounds of silver, and storage, insurance, and shipping bills follow the weight.
The two metals are not the same trade
Both are priced per troy ounce, both are taxed as collectibles under federal law, and both can sit in an IRA. There the similarity stops.
Gold’s demand is concentrated in jewelry, bars, and central-bank purchases. Most silver demand is industrial. An industrial metal carries the business cycle in a way a monetary metal does not.
The US Geological Survey’s Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 give the demand splits, with one caveat: the silver figures cover United States domestic uses in 2025, and the gold figures are estimated global consumption excluding exchange-traded funds. The two lists show the shape of demand, not a like-for-like comparison.
Silver, US uses, 2025:
- Electrical and electronics: 25%
- Other industrial uses and photography: 19%
- Physical investment in bars: 18%
- Photovoltaics: 15%
- Coins and medals: 14%
- Jewelry and silverware: 6%
- Brazing and solder: 3%
Gold, estimated global consumption excluding exchange-traded funds:
- Jewelry: 40%
- Physical bars: 24%
- Central banks and other institutions: 21%
- Official coins and medals: 7%
- Electrical and electronics: 7%
- Other: 1%
Silver’s largest categories are industrial and electronic. Gold’s largest are jewelry, bars, and central banks.
What each has returned
Over the ten years to August 2026 the two metals have returned about the same. Over every longer window, gold is ahead, and the lead widens as the window lengthens.
Data note. The return, volatility, and correlation figures on this page are computed by this site from World Bank Commodity Price Data (“Pink Sheet”) monthly average gold and silver prices in US dollars per troy ounce, downloaded September 22, 2026, and from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (series CPIAUCSL, via the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), downloaded September 23, 2026. “Real” means adjusted to August 2026 dollars. Every figure is a monthly average, never an intraday price.
Compound annual growth to August 2026, after inflation:
| Bought in | Gold, real growth a year | Silver, real growth a year |
|---|---|---|
| August 2016 | 9.0% | 9.2% |
| August 2006 | 7.5% | 6.1% |
| August 1996 | 5.8% | 6.2% |
| August 1976 | 3.9% | 1.9% |
| January 1970 | 4.8% | 2.4% |
| January 1980 | 0.9% | −2.0% |
Anchor prices, monthly averages: gold sold for $35 and silver for $1.90 in January 1970. By January 1980 the two were $675 and $38.90. In August 2026 they were $4,411 and $65.40.
Read the table by window length. Ten years in, the two are nearly level, at 9.0% and 9.2% a year. Twenty years in, gold leads 7.5% to 6.1%. Since January 1970 the lead is 4.8% to 2.4%. From the January 1980 peak, silver has lost purchasing power for 46 years, and gold has managed 0.9% a year after inflation.
As a labeled hypothetical: $10,000 held for the twenty years to August 2026 at the table’s rates grows to about $42,000 in gold and about $33,000 in silver, in August 2026 dollars.
These are fixed historical windows. They do not say which metal to buy now, and they say nothing about what either will be worth in ten years. The page makes no timing call and no forecast.
The falls
Silver’s fall was deeper, and gold’s was longer. Gold’s largest drop was 62.1%, from January 1980 to July 1999. Silver’s was 90.7%, from January 1980 to March 1993. In nominal terms, silver’s January 1980 price was not seen again until April 2011, thirty-one years later.
In real terms the record is harsher. The January 1980 silver price is about $167 in August 2026 dollars. Silver has never matched it. At $65.40 in August 2026, it stood about 61% below. Gold’s own recovery was slow: its January 1980 level was not regained in real terms until February 2025. The full year-by-year record is on Is gold a good investment?.
Volatility, and whether the two diversify each other
Silver’s price has moved about twice as widely as gold’s, in both directions. Annualized volatility of monthly returns is 15.2% for gold and 26.0% for silver over 1960 to 2026. Over the last ten years it is 12.1% for gold and 26.1% for silver. Volatility measures the size of the swings around the average, upward and downward alike.
Correlation measures how closely two returns move together, from −1 for always opposite to +1 for always in step. The monthly returns of the two metals have a correlation of 0.69 over the full series and 0.73 over the last ten years. Two holdings that move together most of the time spread risk less than two holdings that do not. On these figures, gold plus silver is closer to one position than two. What to do with that fact is a portfolio decision this page does not make.
What the price gap means for storage
The bulk follows from the price ratio. At the August 2026 monthly averages, $4,411 an ounce for gold and $65.40 an ounce for silver, $100,000 buys 22.7 troy ounces of gold, about 0.71 kilograms or 1.6 pounds, or 1,529 troy ounces of silver, about 47.6 kilograms or 105 pounds. The same money in silver weighs roughly 67 times as much.
Depositories that bill by volume or by item charge more to hold silver for the same dollars. Home storage and insurance follow the same logic. Shipping costs follow weight outright.
The fee schedules this site has collected are written around gold, so this page quotes no silver storage rate. A buyer comparing depositories should ask each one for its silver schedule and read how the billing works. Gold IRA depositories lists what to check, and gold IRA fees lays out the fee layers.
The silver-to-gold price relationship behind these figures has a long record of its own. See the gold-to-silver ratio.
Cost and tax, where they are the same
The tax line and the dealer spread treat the two metals alike. Both are collectibles for federal income tax purposes, so a net long-term gain on either, held outside a retirement account, faces the same 28% federal ceiling (IRS Topic 409).
Both also trade at a spread to spot: bought above it, sold below it. Each dealer sets its own spread. The CFTC’s advisory for metals buyers covers this pricing.
Both metals can be held in an IRA, subject to the fineness rules for what qualifies. IRA-eligible gold covers those rules, and gold and silver IRAs covers the account structure.
One visible difference is the premium. Percentage premiums on small silver items are commonly wider than on gold, because a fixed manufacturing cost takes a larger share of a lower metal price. This site has no published premium figure for silver from the dealers reviewed here. Ask for the premium in writing, on both metals, before buying. Gold bar and coin value explains how spot, premium, and resale fit together, and how to sell gold covers the exit side.
Deciding between them
The record does not make the choice; the job does. A few checks cover most of it:
- The job. What is the holding meant to do, and does an industrial-demand metal fit that job?
- The drawdown. Could you hold through a 90% fall, or through decades without a real recovery?
- The storage. Where will the metal sit, and what does that cost per dollar held, given the weight figures above?
- The account. Taxable or retirement? The 28% ceiling described above applies to taxable holdings; an IRA has its own eligibility rules.
- The pair. If you buy both, do the correlation figures change how much that combination diversifies?
- The premium. Is the premium in writing on both metals, for the exact items you would buy?
This page is research, not investment advice.
Related research
- The gold-to-silver ratio — how the price relationship between the two metals is computed and read.
- Is gold a good investment? — gold’s inflation-adjusted record, year by year.
- Gold vs the S&P 500 — the same method applied to stocks, including the correlation.
- Gold and silver IRAs — how retirement accounts hold physical metals.
- IRA-eligible gold — the fineness rules an IRA holding must meet.
- Gold IRA depositories — storage arrangements and what to check before funding.
- Gold IRA fees — the fee layers from setup through storage.
- Gold bar and coin value — spot, premium, and how a resale price forms.
- How to sell gold — the exit side, from quotes to settlement.
- Gold IRA spread and buyback — what dealers charge to enter and pay to exit.
Frequently asked questions
Is gold or silver a better investment?
This page does not rank them. On the record here, the two are nearly level over the ten years to August 2026, at 9.0% and 9.2% real growth a year, and gold is ahead over every longer window, at 4.8% against 2.4% a year since January 1970. Which one fits depends on the job the holding is meant to do, the swings a buyer can hold through, and the storage the metal will need.
Is silver more volatile than gold?
Yes, by the figures on this page. Annualized volatility of monthly returns is 26.0% for silver against 15.2% for gold from 1960 to 2026, and 26.1% against 12.1% over the last ten years. In plain terms, silver's price has moved about twice as widely as gold's, in both directions.
Has silver recovered its 1980 high?
In nominal terms, not until April 2011, thirty-one years after the January 1980 peak. In inflation-adjusted terms, never. The January 1980 silver price is about $167 in August 2026 dollars, and the August 2026 price of $65.40 stood about 61% below it.
Does holding both gold and silver diversify a portfolio?
Less than it might look. Correlation measures how closely two returns move together, from −1 for always opposite to +1 for always in step. The monthly returns of gold and silver have a correlation of 0.69 over the full series and 0.73 over the last ten years. Two holdings that move together most of the time spread risk less than two that do not, so gold plus silver behaves closer to one position than two.
Is silver harder to store than gold?
It weighs far more for the same money. At the August 2026 monthly averages, $100,000 buys about 1.6 pounds of gold or about 105 pounds of silver, roughly 67 times the weight. Storage that bills by volume or by item costs more for silver at the same dollar amount, and home storage, insurance, and shipping follow the weight.
Is silver taxed differently from gold?
No, at the federal level. Both are collectibles for federal income tax, so a net long-term gain on either, held outside a retirement account, faces the same 28% federal ceiling (IRS Topic 409). Dealer premiums and spreads, which are separate from tax, can differ between the two metals.