How Much Is 1 oz of Silver Worth Right Now?
$59.76 per troy ounce of pure silver
$1.92 per gram · $1,921.33 per kilogram
Silver spot $59.76/oz · updated
Quick answer: One troy ounce of silver is worth $59.76 at today's spot price. A dealer charges more than that to sell you a coin, bar or round, and usually pays less than that to buy one back. "Worth" has three different answers, and this page separates them.
The short answer, and why it needs a second look
The headline number on this page is the current silver price per ounce: $59.76 as of October 7, 2026. If you own one troy ounce of pure silver and could trade it at the market's reference price with no costs at all, that is what it would be worth. Nobody trades with no costs, so the honest answer has layers.
Silver has been moving by large amounts. Over the last month the price changed by −9.7%, and over the last year by +26.9%. Over the past month silver has fallen 9.7%, so the recent direction has been down. A figure you read last week, or last month, may be off by a lot. That is why every dollar amount here is calculated from the live price rather than typed into the text.
The word "ounce" matters too. Silver is quoted per troy ounce, which is 31.1035 grams. The ounce on a kitchen or postal scale is lighter, at 28.3495 grams. We cover the difference on our page about the troy ounce vs. ounce, and it is the first thing to check if a number looks wrong.
Three meanings of "worth"
When someone asks what an ounce of silver is worth, they usually mean one of three things. Keeping them apart removes most of the confusion.
1. Worth at spot. The spot price is the market reference for silver. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC, describes it as the cash price for immediate delivery of physical metal, quoted per troy ounce. The LBMA, the London bullion market association, publishes a daily benchmark set in an auction that starts at noon London time. Our own figure is a live feed, covered on our About page. Whichever source you use, spot is a wholesale reference. It is not a price printed on a tag.
2. Worth to a buyer: the ask. If you want to buy a coin, bar or round, the dealer quotes an ask price. That price is spot plus a premium. The premium pays for making the item, moving it, holding stock and running the business. It is why the silver you buy costs more than $59.76 per ounce. The full anatomy of that gap is on the page about silver spot price vs. retail price.
3. Worth to a seller: the bid. If you want to sell silver you already hold, the dealer quotes a bid. Dealers usually bid below spot for small, ordinary items, and the difference between the bid and the ask is the spread. The CFTC defines a spread as the difference between a dealer's buying and selling prices, and it tells buyers to ask what the dealer would pay if they sold the metal back tomorrow.
So the same ounce can have three prices at one moment: the reference number, a higher number to buy, and a lower number to sell. None of them is the "real" one. Each answers a different question.
What 1 oz and bigger amounts are worth at spot
The table below scales the live ounce price to common amounts. It uses pure .999 silver and the troy ounce. Each row is spot value only, with no premium and no dealer margin.
| Weight | What it looks like | Grams | Value at spot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 troy oz | A coin, round or small bar | 31.1 g | $59.76 |
| 5 troy oz | A small stack or a 5 oz bar | 155.5 g | $298.80 |
| 10 troy oz | A common bar size | 311.0 g | $597.60 |
| 100 troy oz | A large bar | 3,110.3 g | $5,976.00 |
| 1,000 troy oz | The size of an LBMA Good Delivery bar (about 32 kg) | 31,103.5 g | $59,760 |
Two relationships help you check any number. First, an ounce is 31.1035 grams, so one gram is worth $1.92 at today's spot, which our page on the silver price per gram works through. Second, a kilogram holds 32.1507 troy ounces, so a full kilo of pure silver is worth $1,921.33 at spot, as shown on the silver price per kilo page.
For a few amounts you can do the math on a phone. Five ounces is $298.80, ten ounces is $597.60, and one hundred ounces is $5,976.00. A thousand-ounce bar, the size associated with futures delivery, is $59,760. These are reference values. What you would pay or receive is different, for the reasons above.
Silver is not always pure, and the weight is not always an ounce
An item stamped ".999" is 99.9 percent silver. Jewelry, flatware and older coins are often lower. Sterling is .925, and older coin silver is .900. If a piece is not pure, an ounce of its total weight holds less than an ounce of silver, so it is worth less than $59.76. Our silver melt value calculator takes weight and purity and returns the melt value at today's price.
Weight units cause the other common error. A piece described as "2 oz" on a kitchen scale is about 1.8229 troy ounces, not 2. Multiplying by spot as if it were two troy ounces overstates the value. A food ounce is 8.9% lighter than a troy ounce, and a troy ounce is 9.7% heavier than a food ounce. When the label says "troy" or "t oz", use the troy figures. When you weigh something at home, convert before you multiply.
The forms an ounce of silver comes in
A one-ounce amount of silver is sold in three common shapes. They hold the same silver and can cost different amounts over spot.
Rounds. A round looks like a coin but is not legal tender. Private mints make them, and they are sold by weight and purity. Because no government backs the design, dealers price them mainly as metal plus fabrication.
Bars. A bar is a stamped, rectangular piece of silver that comes in sizes from a single ounce up to very large formats. Bars are often the lowest-cost way to hold a large amount, because there is less design work per ounce. They can be harder to sell in small pieces, which is why some buyers prefer smaller sizes.
Coins. Government-issued bullion coins carry a face value and are legal tender, though the face value is far below the silver they hold. The silver Eagle price page explains one well-known example. Coins are easy to recognize and resell, and that recognizability is one reason their premiums can run higher than a plain round.
We do not list prices for any of these, because a premium changes with the dealer, the product and the market on a given day.
How to ask for the premium in dollars per ounce
A percentage hides what you are paying. Ask for the premium in dollars per troy ounce, and ask what spot figure the dealer used and when. Then do the subtraction yourself.
Here is an illustration. This is an example, not a quote, and uses a made-up premium of 8%. At that rate, an ounce with an ask of $64.54 sits $4.78 above spot. A dealer bidding $57.97 for the same ounce leaves a spread of $6.57, or 10.2% of the ask. Ten ounces at that example ask would cost $645.41 against a melt value of $597.60, a gap of $47.81.
Real premiums are set by sellers and can be higher or lower than this example. What matters is the habit: get the all-in price per troy ounce, subtract spot, and compare the result across quotes. The CFTC's customer advisory on buying physical metals suggests getting costs in writing and comparing the retail price with spot multiplied by weight, and our page on silver spot price vs. retail price turns that into three questions you can ask any seller.
If you are selling an ounce, spot is a ceiling
Selling silver? Spot is the ceiling for what a dealer pays, not an offer, so expect a bid below the live number and ask for it in writing before you hand anything over.
Buying instead? Read where to buy silver for how the premium works Where to buy silver →
If you are weighing a sale, treat $59.76 as the top of the range. Dealers have costs and risk, so a bid below spot is normal. How far below depends on the item and the buyer. Several quotes, compared per troy ounce, will tell you more than any single number. If you are on the other side of the counter, our guide on where to buy silver covers premiums and the questions to ask.
What this can't tell you
This page cannot tell you what a particular dealer will charge or pay for your silver today, whether the price will be higher or lower next week, or whether any given item is genuine or pure. Spot is a reference number, not an offer. Check the item, the weight and the purity, and get a written quote before you act.
Frequently asked questions
Is an ounce of silver worth the spot price?
Only at the reference level. Spot is where the market prices a troy ounce of pure silver before costs. A dealer sells above it to cover making, moving and holding the metal, and buys below it to leave room for resale. Your actual buy or sell price lands above or below $59.76 accordingly.
Why do two dealers quote different prices for one ounce?
Each sets its own premium over spot, based on its costs, its stock and how much demand it sees. The product matters as well, since a well-known coin often carries a different premium than a plain round. Comparing quotes in dollars over spot per troy ounce shows the real difference.
Is a 1 oz silver bar worth the same as a 1 oz coin?
At spot, yes, if both hold one troy ounce of pure silver. In the market they can differ. Coins carry a government design and legal tender status, while bars carry less design work. Both effects show up in the premium rather than in the silver content.
Does a "1 oz" label mean a food ounce?
For bullion, no. A bar or coin sold as one ounce of silver holds one troy ounce, which is 31.1035 grams, and that is the unit the price per ounce uses. The ounce on a kitchen scale is 28.3495 grams.
What to take away
An ounce of silver is worth $59.76 at spot, more to buy and less to sell. Keep an eye on the live ounce price, use the premium in dollars per ounce to compare offers, and check your weights against the troy ounce. For long-run context, see the silver price history page.
Sources and further reading
- CFTC: Customer advisory on buying physical metals
- LBMA: Precious metal prices
- NIST: Handbook 44 general tables of units of measurement
Keep reading
Data sources: Spot price via api.gold-api.com · COMEX futures (SI=F) via Yahoo Finance. Prices are for informational purposes only and may be delayed. Figures on this page were generated . Silver is quoted in US dollars per troy ounce.