Check the current Consumer Price Index

An updated, comprehensive tracker of global inflation

This tracker provides a visual narrative of inflation rates, central bank policies, consumer price breakouts, and more from nations across the globe.

What is the lipstick index?

The lipstick index is an economic theory that breaks down to this: when consumers think an economic downturn is looming, sales for affordable luxury items (such as lipstick) go up. While it's not an economically proven theory, it's still worth considering. So why do consumers exhibit this behavior? Read more about the lipstick index to find out.

Economists define deflation as a sustained decline in prices across an economy

Deflationary periods are characterized by broad, significant price declines. The Federal Reserve can monitor deflation by tracking prices through price indexes, such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which characterizes the average costs for consumers each month.

US cities where inflation is rising the most

WalletHub compared 22 major metropolitan areas to see how inflation has risen in the last year using the Consumer Price Index, which describes the average cost of a basket of goods. As of April 2024, Honolulu, Hawaii, clocked in with the greatest year-over-year change in prices, with inflation close to 5%. See the full list here.

See how much key commodities are trading for in real time

This tracker shows the current price of common commodities such as crude oil, lumber, nickel, and many more, as well as how much these prices have fluctuated over the past day, year, week, and month.

A nuanced break down of how tariffs are impacting prices

As tariffs have increased to their highest levels since the 1930s, economists have kept a close eye on retail prices. This chart and accompanying explainer shows correlations between key tariff announcements and news and the costs of roughly 350,000 goods from five major retailers.

One writer suggests using the California roll to evaluate sushi restaurants

Christine Carone uses the logic of the Big Mac Index—a metric for evaluating purchasing power by comparing countries’ Big Mac prices proposed by the Economist—for evaluating takeout sushi. Her recommendation is looking at the cost of a California roll, a relatively inexpensive, middle-of-the-road item for any American sushi spot. If it’s too expensive, the restaurant isn’t offering good value. But if it’s too cheap, you should worry about the quality of the fish.

What something costs is reflective of a balance in the market determined by the amount of demand relative to the supply of goods and services

Because economies are complex systems, a wide variety of issues influence this balance—including some things generally considered to be positive, like rising wages.

The typical US household could lower its household costs by 6.4% by using coupons

The study looked at coupons for food, household items, entertainment, and clothing, as well as other expected expenses. The grocery store category offered the largest amount of savings at around $316 annually.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average vs. the S&P 500: Which one is a better representation of the economy?

The Dow and S&P 500 are both indexes meant to provide a broad representation of the economy. The Dow has 30 companies and is weighted by share price, while the S&P 500 has 500 different companies weighted by market capitalization. Since the indexes are so different, investors don't always agree on which index is a better representation of the economy—though the two move in the same direction more than 90% of the time.

Prices can still feel high even if inflation is slowing

This is partly because a recent spike in inflation raised prices permanently, so even though the pace of price growth has slowed, prices have still gone up for good.

Costco and Amazon have very similar pricing across everyday staples

This article compares the average prices of everyday staples at Amazon and Costco, like toilet paper ($1.12 at Costco, $1.14 on Amazon), to help consumers decide which discount retailer to purchase from.

Consumer spending accounts for 70% of US GDP, making Black Friday significant

Lizabeth Cohen, a history professor at Harvard and author of the book “A Consumer's Republic: The Politics Of Mass Consumption In Postwar America,” has argued that the US government has presented consumerism as a way out of economic crisis or decline since around World War II.

Venezuela is experiencing hyperinflation

Consumer prices in the country have risen at a fairly quick rate since 1983, but a series of policy miscalculations, falling oil prices, and other factors have sparked extreme levels of inflation since 2017, with citizens losing faith in the value of the national currency.

Calculate whether or not you're in the American middle class

In 2022, roughly 52% of US adults lived in middle-income households. This income calculator can help you determine whether or not you're one of them. Specifically, the calculator lets you enter your household income, location, and more to see where you line up in Pew's government data.

Explore current CD interest rates

Data itself is not (exactly) a financial advisor, but it can help you decide between a variable or fixed rate CD, or CDs with different term lengths. A chart from the Federal Reserve shows the three-month trend of CD interest rates.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Social Security beneficiaries have received cost-of-living adjustments almost every year since 1975

Until 1975, Congress had to act each time Social Security benefits were increased. The 1970s saw particularly high inflation rates that eroded the purchasing power benefits, leading to the change.

Meet China's "VICs," or Very Important Customers

High-volume spenders power China's economy. Despite making up just over 10% of consumers, they account for about 40% of consumer spending. WeChat has focused on these spenders to supercharge the expansion of its digital payments and e-commerce services.

Today, the rapper 50 Cent would be 109 Cent

While the rapper 50 Cent got his name decades ago, adjusted for inflation, 50 Cent would be 109 Cent as of 2025.

The cost of covering family health insurance has tripled in 20 years

The Milliman Medical Index tracks the real cost of health insurance for people covered through employer-sponsored plans. In 2025, healthcare for a family of four cost an average of $35K, including employer contributions, out-of-pocket expenses, premiums, and offset wages.

A list of the world's top 25 economies by GDP

Gross domestic product estimates the value of goods and services produced in a country, typically through the expenditure method, which adds up spending by consumers, investors and governments with the value of exports. The top five economies are the US, China, Germany, Japan and India.

Explore the fundamental constants of the metric system

In 2019, the International System of Units was revised, such that all seven fundamental units are defined in terms of combinations of seven fundamental constants of the universe. These include the speed of light in a vacuum, Planck's constant, Avogadro's number, and the elementary charge of protons and electrons.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking closely at BNPL

Given the lack of data around BNPL services in comparison to other financial products such as credit cards, the CFPB has conducted research to better understand BNPL products and how they could harm and benefit consumers.

The impact of greenhouse gases is assessed as a measure of Global Warming Potential

Since 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has used GWP to measure how much energy 1 metric ton of a gas emits over a given period—usually 100 years—relative to 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide. By definition, carbon dioxide has a GWP of 1.

The Anthropic Economic Index shows AI adoption is highest in computer science roles

The analysis of millions of anonymized conversations on Claude aims to reveal how AI is being integrated into real-world tasks across the labor market. As of November 2025, 52% of conversations were classified as involving enhancing existing work products, while 45% involved using Claude for automation.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.