livingcost.me

About this project

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Why we built a way to make inflation numbers personal.

The official inflation rate is a single national average - but no one actually spends money like the "average" household. This tool lets you see past that average: pull real BLS Consumer Price Index data, reweight the categories to match how you actually spend, and get an inflation number that reflects your own cost of living instead of a nationwide blend. Whether you want to dig into the raw index levels and category weights or just answer a few quick questions about your spending, the goal is the same - make inflation numbers legible to the people they're supposed to describe.