Fort Knox Bullion Depository

The United States Bullion Depository was built by the Treasury on land at the Army's Fort Knox in Kentucky and received its first gold shipments in January 1937, after the Gold Reserve Act of 1934 transferred the nation's monetary gold to the Treasury. Its granite and concrete vault, behind a door weighing more than 20 tons, is run by the U.S. Mint and guarded by the Mint Police, with the Army post surrounding it. During the Second World War it also held the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other national treasures.

The depository holds about 147.3 million troy ounces of gold, roughly 56 percent of the 261.5 million ounces the Treasury owns, with most of the rest at West Point, New York, the Denver Mint, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The government still values the gold at a legal price of 42.22 dollars an ounce set in 1973, about 11 billion dollars in total, although at 2026 market prices the reserves are worth well over a trillion dollars. The gold no longer backs the dollar, which has not been convertible into gold since 1971.

Visits are extremely rare. Members of Congress and reporters toured the vault in 1974 to answer claims that the gold was missing, and a Treasury Secretary visited in 2017. The Treasury inspector general and the Mint audit the gold through sealed compartments and sample testing. In 2025 calls by some officials and lawmakers for a full public audit renewed attention, and a House bill proposed a complete inventory. Supporters of an audit say the public deserves proof, while Treasury officials say existing audits show the gold is all there.