The Census Bureau report Changes in Median Household Income: 1969 to 1996 by Jack McNeil indicates that the US median household income rose six percent overall between 1969 and 1996. This modest increase does not reflect the more dynamic changes experienced by a variety of the household types studied, however, as selected measures in the seventeen statistical appendices included in the report...

According to the Consumer Price Index for March 2000, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.8 percent in March. This is a 3.7 percent increase since March 1999. After seasonal adjustments, the CPI-U rose 0.7 percent, after a 0.5 percent increase in February 2000.

Founded in 1986, the Economics Policy Institute (EPI) was established to "broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle-income workers." In keeping with that particular view, the Institute places a premium on real world analysis and a concern for the living standards of working people. The EPI site serves a clearinghouse for much of its research findings,...

As expected, the Federal Reserve voted to raise interest rates 0.25 percent, the fifth rate raise since June. The interest rate boost is expected to help keep inflation in check during this record period (108 months) of economic expansion. Technology companies have continued to signal healthy economic growth, and unemployment rates remain low. Despite drastic price hikes in gasoline and heating...

This simple inflation calculator uses the Consumer Price Index to adjust any given amount of money, from 1800 to 1998. Creator S. Morgan Friedman uses data from the Historical Statistics of the United States for statistics predating 1975 and the annual Statistics Abstracts of the United States for data from 1975 to 1998. Links to other online inflation information are also included.

The number of surveys about the cost and livability of various cities have increased significantly over the past decade, and many of them are as heatedly argued over as are the yearly rankings of colleges and universities across the United States. This week the Mercer Human Resource Consulting group released its list of the 144 most expensive urban areas around the world. Not surprisingly, Asian...

Salary.com offers an invaluable range of information about salaries and benefits. The site showcases its Salary Wizard, which allows users to see whether their salaries meet the average in their area, as well as what kinds of salaries they would make in other parts of the country. The data is complimented with a large collection of related salary surveys; Salary.com has written detailed...

On Tuesday October 19, 1999, the US Department of Labor released its September 1999 Consumer Price Index (CPI), which showed a rise of 0.4 percent, the third monthly rise in a row. Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief at the news of the report as recent anxiety over the rising CPI and the threat of interest rates had sent the Nasdaq plunging. Tuesday, after the release of the report, stocks...

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recently released the 1998 federal poverty measures. There are two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure: poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines. Data for both versions are available at this site. Separate data are listed for the 48 states, Alaska, and Hawaii.

The Economic Research Service division of the United States Department of Agriculture has published a number of insightful and thoughtful studies in its long history, and this study by Dean Jolliffe lives up to those exacting standards. Released in September 2006, the paper takes a critical look at the location of poverty across urban and rural areas in the United States. Drawing on a variety of...