What things really cost.
With receipts.
We turn official government data into clear charts about prices, paychecks and the cost of living. Every number is sourced. No hype, and no financial advice.
What got cheaper, and what got brutally expensive, since 2000
The gray bar is the average across everything: +94%. Anything to the left of it got cheaper in real terms, and anything to the right got more expensive.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted. TVs, computers and software are quality-adjusted by BLS, so the figures compare like-for-like quality.
Show as a table
| Item | Change | BLS series |
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Is your inflation higher than the official 3.7%?
The official number is an average. If you rent, drive a lot or pay for childcare, yours is probably different. Enter roughly what you spend and see your own rate in under a minute. It runs privately in your browser.
Our series
2000 vs today
The same things, 26 years apart, with official prices.
Prices in work-time
How many minutes of average pay a pound of coffee costs now.
Did pay keep up?
Wages against inflation, honestly and with every caveat shown.
The causes
Why TVs fell, tuition tripled and eggs spiked.
Monthly data drop
The new inflation numbers in 45 seconds, on release day.