How much is Graceland worth in 2024? How much did Elvis Presley pay for it in 1957?

Elvis Presley spent much of his childhood on the move. Born in a humble, two-room cabin in Tupelo, Mississippi which had been built by his father Vernon, with help from his grandfather and uncle, it was an inauspicious start for the young Elvis Aaron, who would grow up not just to become one of the best selling artists in history but a cultural icon who changed the course of popular music.

The Presleys moved from Tupelo when Elvis was 13, renting temporary homes at 370 Washington Street and 572 Poplar Avenue in Memphis before moving into an apartment in Lauderdale Courts at 185 Winchester Avenue in 1949, paying a monthly rent of $35. The family stayed there until 1953 when they were prospering and no long eligible for low income housing.

Elvis Presley’s rags to riches story

A year later Elvis cut his first record for Sun, “That’s All Right” which gained a lot of airplay in Memphis and led to bookings and more recording sessions. Over the course of the next two years, major labels were queuing up to sign Presley. He ended up signing for RCA for $40,000 - now the 20-year-old Elvis could afford a place of his own.

In March 1956, he used the royalties that he had received from “Heartbreak Hotel” to buy a four-bedroom family home at 1034 Audubon from the Welsh Plywood Corporation, costing $29,000. It would be another temporary home for the nomadic Presleys - as soon as fans found out his home address, their privacy was compromised and one year after signing the property deeds, they were on the lookout for somewhere where they would not feel so encroached upon.

Elvis purchases Graceland

Elvis bought Graceland from Ruth Brown Moore on 19 March 1957 for a price of $102,500 (about $1.1 million today). Built in a Colonial Revival–style in 1939 by Thomas and Ruth Moore, the residence stood on a 13.8-acre estate. It was Elvis’ home right up until his death on 16 August 1977. His lifeless body was found slumped in the bathroom by his fiancée Ginger Alden. Elvis was just 42.

Graceland was bequeathed to Elvis’ father Vernon, then his only child Lisa Marie following his father’s passing in 1979. Graceland was opened to the public for tours on 7 June 1982. Around 600,00 visitors visit the estate every year. Several members of the Presley family were buried in the Meditation Garden at Graceland - Elvis, his parents Vernon and Gladys, his paternal grandmother Minnie Mae, Lisa Marie and her only son, Benjamin Keough, who apparently took his own life in 2020.

In August 2023, after a series of legal proceedings regarding the custody of the estate, a Los Angeles, California, judge ruled that, as Lisa’s eldest daughter and Elvis’ granddaughter, Riley Keough would be the sole heir to the exclusive Graceland estate. According to Rolling Stone, the property has an estimated market value of $718 million.