Frequently Asked Questions
How BoomerPrices works, where the data comes from, and why we made the choices we did.
Data Sources
Where does BoomerPrices get its data?
All data comes from official U.S. government sources. Consumer prices come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index and average price programs. Household income data comes from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) portal, which distributes Census Bureau survey results. Home prices use the FRED median sales price series (MSPUS). We never use estimates, projections, or third-party calculations.
How often is the data updated?
The BLS publishes CPI and average price data monthly. FRED updates income series annually, typically in September for the prior year. BoomerPrices ingests new data periodically and uses annual averages for year-over-year comparisons. There is typically a 6–12 month lag before the most recent complete year of data is available.
Can I verify the numbers myself?
Yes. Every data point traces back to a specific government series ID. CPI data is available at bls.gov/cpi using series like CUUR0000SA0 (CPI-U All Items). Income data is at fred.stlouisfed.org under series MEHOINUSA646N (median household income). The methodology page lists every series ID we use.
Calculations
How does inflation adjustment work?
We convert historical prices into today’s dollars using the CPI-U index. The formula is: adjusted price = nominal price × (CPI_target / CPI_source). This tells you what the old price would be in current dollars, accounting for the general change in price levels. But inflation adjustment alone doesn’t capture changes in earning power — that’s why we also calculate income share.
What does "income share" mean?
Income share is the percentage of annual median household income that an item costs: (price / median household income) × 100. If a gallon of milk took 0.05% of household income in 1980 and takes 0.06% today, that’s a measurable affordability shift — regardless of what happened to the dollar. This is the core metric BoomerPrices uses to assess real affordability changes.
Why do you use median income instead of mean income?
Median income (the midpoint where half of households earn more and half earn less) better represents a typical household than mean income, which gets pulled upward by very high earners. The top 1% of incomes can significantly raise the mean without affecting what most families actually take home. Median income is also the standard measure used by the Census Bureau and most economic researchers for affordability analysis.
What does the "buying power" metric represent?
The buying power ratio compares income shares between two years: income_share_now / income_share_then. A ratio above 1.0 means the item takes a bigger bite out of income today. A ratio below 1.0 means it’s become more affordable relative to earnings. A ratio of exactly 1.0 means affordability hasn’t changed. This single number captures whether something has genuinely become harder or easier to afford.
Common Objections
Does CPI accurately measure cost of living?
CPI is an imperfect measure, and the BLS itself calls it a "cost of goods" index rather than a true "cost of living" index. Known limitations include substitution bias (the index assumes fixed buying patterns rather than accounting for consumers switching to cheaper alternatives), the use of owner’s equivalent rent instead of actual home purchase prices since 1983, and quality adjustments (hedonic pricing) that can mask raw price increases. Despite these limitations, CPI-U remains the most transparent, widely audited, and consistently published price measure available. BoomerPrices uses it as-is and documents what it does and does not capture.
What about quality improvements in products over time?
This is a fair objection. A car in 2025 has airbags, GPS, and fuel injection that a 1975 car didn’t. The BLS makes hedonic quality adjustments for some categories (electronics, vehicles, apparel) to account for this, meaning the CPI already partially factors in quality changes. For other categories like food staples and housing, quality adjustments are minimal. BoomerPrices shows the data as published by the BLS without additional quality corrections — our methodology page explains exactly what the numbers include.
Why don’t you use the Chapwood Index or ShadowStats?
BoomerPrices uses the official BLS Consumer Price Index because it is the most transparent, auditable, and widely cited price measure. The methodology is publicly documented, the underlying data is freely available, and it undergoes independent review. Alternative indexes like the Chapwood Index and ShadowStats make different methodological choices but lack the same level of public documentation, raw data access, and independent scrutiny. We believe users are best served by data they can verify themselves.
Using the Tool
What items are available for comparison?
BoomerPrices covers items across seven categories: Housing (home prices, rent, mortgage payments, property tax), Food & Groceries (milk, eggs, bread, beef, chicken, bacon, coffee, sugar, beer), Energy & Utilities (gasoline, electricity, natural gas, heating oil, crude oil), Healthcare (insurance premiums, Medicare Part B, out-of-pocket spending), Education (public and private university tuition), Wages & Income (federal minimum wage), and Other (postage stamps). All items use actual dollar amounts from government sources — no CPI indexes.
How does the wage analysis work?
When you compare a wage item like the federal minimum wage, the analysis switches from "affordability" to "purchasing power." Instead of showing how hard something is to afford, it shows how much real value the wage has gained or lost after inflation. It also computes what a full-time worker at that wage earns annually (wage × 2,080 hours) as a percentage of median household income, showing how minimum wage workers’ relative standing has changed over time.
Why doesn’t a specific item have data before a certain year?
Different BLS price series have different start dates. Most CPI data goes back to the 1970s, but some item-specific average price series began later. Income data covers 1970 to present (1970–1983 from Census Historical Table H-6, 1984+ from FRED). When data is unavailable for a year, BoomerPrices shows it as unavailable rather than estimating.
Still have questions?
Check our methodology page for a detailed walkthrough of every data source and formula, or submit a suggestion.