The price level versus the inflation rate
See how a lower annual inflation rate can coexist with a higher overall price index. Pick any two published checkpoints to recompute the cumulative price-index change.
Bars start at zero, and only actual listed observation dates are shown. This is not a continuous time series.
The editable $100 example is an illustrative user amount, not a wage observation. It is converted by the CPI ratio; it does not measure income, quality, or spending basket variation.
Evidence, limits, and reproducibility
Metric: Not seasonally adjusted CPI-U all items (CUUR0000SA0)
Coverage: January 2021–August 2026; six selected observations, NOT a full monthly series
Geography: United States: U.S. city average
Observational structure: Non-contiguous dated checkpoints
Limit: Selected checkpoints only, not a continuous time series. Comparing different calendar months can include seasonality. No estimate of who caused the changes.
Data vintage: frozen October 11, 2026, not a live data feed. The public release includes exactly these observations, not every monthly record.
Primary-source register
- Consumer Price Index, January 2021 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Table 1: unadjusted CPI-U all items and 12-month change; checked 2026-10-11)
- Consumer Price Index, June 2022 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Table 1: unadjusted CPI-U all items and 12-month change; checked 2026-10-11)
- Consumer Price Index, January 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Table 1: unadjusted CPI-U all items and 12-month change; checked 2026-10-11)
- Consumer Price Index, August 2026 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Table A, Table 1 and Table 4: CPI-U levels, subcategories and selected regions; checked 2026-10-11)