Price evolution of palladium in the United States

1. Relevance of the price of palladium
2. Price evolution of palladium
   1. Absolute price of palladium per year
   2. Inflation adjusted price of palladium per year
3. Conclusion
4. FAQs about palladium's price in the the United States
5. Price evolution table and full chart

Price evolution of palladium

The average price of a troy ounce of palladium between 1985 and 2023 was $534, with the lowest price being $107 in 1985 and the highest $2,365 in 2021 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Absolute price of palladium per year

Our data source for this article was: Trading economics .

The absolute price of palladium in the the United States has gone from $107 in 1985 to $503 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $397, or 372.45% in a period of 38 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).

This increment has not been linear though. During this period of 38 years the price of palladium actually decreased year over year 15 times, in 1988, 1990, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2022, 2023.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of a troy ounce of palladium was in 2023, when the price dropped by $-1,600, or -76.07%. The biggest price increase was $685, or 77.59% in 2019.

So yes, it's had its ups and downs, but overall, price increases outweight the deceases, making palladium pricier than it used to be.

Inflation-adjusted price of palladium per year

As accurate as the information above might be, it can also be somehow deceiving. This is because the value of money changes over time, usually decreasing. That means that $1 of today's money cannot buy as much as $1 in the past. This phenomenon is called inflation, and can make it complicated to compare historical pricing data. Luckily, we can adjust for it and calculate what a dollar value of the past would be equal to in today's money.

So let's not take a look at the evolution of the price of palladium in the the United States, in that same 38 years period between 1985 and 2023, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).

When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of palladium also peaked in 2021, when it cost $2,814 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 1992 when it sold for $201.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 2023, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-1,862 (-77.84%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of palladium was still in 2019. However, the $685 jump actually felt like $814 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.

The average price of palladium during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $758, and the most current price of $503 is 33.62% below that average. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Conclusion

While the price of palladium has increased by $397 (372.45%) since 1985, it has actually been selling for cheaper during the last decade, with a drop of $-219 ($-30.31%) since 2013.

Now, as we've explained earlier, the absolute price of a product does not necessarily represent its affordability fairly. For that we have to look at its inflation adjusted price, or in other words, the price evolution in today's money.

When we look at the inflation-adjusted price of palladium, we see that it has varied ± 172.28% over this period of time, and is currently 33.62% cheaper than the average over these years.

Even when adjusting prices for inflation, palladium prices are still higher in 2023 than they were in 1985. And not just a bit more expensive, we are talking about a significant increase no matter how you look at it!

So if there had to be one single take away from this article it would be this: The average person has to make a bigger economic effort to purchase palladium today than in the past.

FAQs about the price of palladium in the the United States