Bitcoin Buying Power
What do everyday things cost in Bitcoin?
Eggs, gasoline and beef, priced in sats and in dollars. A sat is one hundred-millionth of a Bitcoin.
Everyday prices in sats
The average price in US cities each month, turned into sats at Bitcoin’s average price that month. A falling line means the item got cheaper in Bitcoin.
Everyday prices in dollars
The average price in US cities each month. A rising line means the item got more expensive in dollars.
Bitcoin’s price then, and in today’s dollars
Bitcoin’s average price each month, shown twice: as it was at the time, and raised by how much US prices have risen since, so every month is counted in the latest month’s dollars. The older the month, the more its price is raised, because US prices have risen more since then.
Right now
A dozen eggs costs 2,823 sats ($2.27) in the US.
Based on average prices in Sep 2026.
A gallon of gasoline
5,569 sats
Or $4.48.
A pound of ground beef
8,440 sats
Or $6.79.
Bitcoin’s average price
$80,475
The price the sats figures above use.
One US dollar
Buys 35% less than in Aug 2010
Aug 2010 is the first full month of Bitcoin prices. Worked out from how much US prices have risen since then.
Understanding
Bitcoin Buying Power
A dozen eggs costs 2,823 sats ($2.27) in the US as of .
A gallon of gasoline costs 5,569 sats in the US as of .
A pound of ground beef costs 8,440 sats in the US as of .
One Bitcoin averaged $80,475 as of .
Measured from Aug 2010, a US dollar buys 35% less as of .
What is a sat?
A sat, short for satoshi, is the smallest unit of Bitcoin. One Bitcoin is 100 million sats, so the price of a dozen eggs reads as a few thousand sats rather than a string of zeros after a decimal point.
Why have these prices mostly fallen in sats but risen in dollars?
Over most of Bitcoin’s history its price has risen much faster than the price of groceries and fuel. So each sat bought more than it used to and the price in sats fell, while the same items have tended to cost more dollars over time. When Bitcoin’s price dropped, the price in sats climbed again, and the chart shows those stretches too. Past years say nothing about the next ones.
What does ‘in today’s dollars’ mean?
It restates every past Bitcoin price in the latest month’s dollars, using how much US prices have risen since, so a price from years ago can be compared fairly with one today. The older the month, the more its price is raised.
How is it worked out?
Each item’s price is the average price in US cities for the month, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To price it in sats, it is divided by Bitcoin’s average daily closing price that month and multiplied by 100 million, the number of sats in one Bitcoin. Bitcoin’s price in today’s dollars raises each past month’s price by how much the US consumer price index has risen since then.
What does it not tell you?
It follows three items, not everything a household buys, and US city prices, not what things cost where you live. It does not say where Bitcoin will move.
Keep exploring
Source: Maketo, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.