{ "checked": "2026-10-17", "references": [ { "id": "us-bls", "name": "U.S. BLS CPI-U", "region": "United States", "basis": "Monthly CPI", "source": "bls", "summary": "The all-items, U.S. city-average CPI-U series is the basis of our downloadable historical snapshot and three U.S. calculators.", "measure": "Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, not seasonally adjusted. Monthly observations describe the reference month, not an individual transaction date.", "period": "Our snapshot contains 1,364 observed months from January 1913 to September 2026. October 2025 is unavailable; no synthetic value or annual-average replacement is inserted.", "boundary": "The national urban-consumer basket does not reproduce a household's own mix of rent, food, transport or debt payments. It is not an exchange-rate series or a contract-specific escalation rule.", "task": "Select the same two observed months in a primary-source download and our tool. Check the index levels, divide end by start and multiply the original amount. Keep the unrounded ratio until the final monetary rounding.", "detail": "A missing intermediate observation does not prevent an endpoint calculation when both endpoints exist. It does prevent a complete continuous monthly path. Our table skips that month and the chart breaks there. A missing endpoint cannot be selected." }, { "id": "uk-personal-inflation", "name": "ONS personal inflation calculator", "region": "United Kingdom", "basis": "Personal basket", "source": "ons", "summary": "An official spending-based illustration for understanding why a household's inflation experience can differ from a UK headline rate.", "measure": "The tool uses CPIH and asks about household spending categories. Unentered categories can use indicative spending estimates; the detailed workflow allows more explicit inputs.", "period": "This is a personal-basket illustration around the tool's stated reference period, rather than our U.S. monthly historical conversion. Inspect its current period and expenditure-estimate notice before comparison.", "boundary": "It cannot predict future prices or reproduce every change in shopping choices. Household spending assumptions and a headline national index answer different questions.", "task": "Run the official tool with two deliberately different spending mixes. Note which categories are estimated and compare those assumptions before comparing the resulting rates.", "detail": "Keep rent, mortgage and owner-occupier measures distinct when choosing a household comparison. Do not insert an ONS personal rate into a U.S. CPI series and describe the result as a single observed historical index. Our site links to the official tool and does not collect household spending." }, { "id": "uk-historical-inflation", "name": "Bank of England inflation calculator", "region": "United Kingdom", "basis": "Historical calculator", "source": "boe", "summary": "An official historical buying-power illustration for pounds, with a documented mixture of modern CPI and earlier historical estimates.", "measure": "The Bank explains its CPI basis and the limitations of linked historical estimates. Earlier periods are not measured with the same contemporary basket throughout.", "period": "The page explains that prior years use calendar averages while the current year can use the latest monthly CPI level. That basis can differ from a month-to-month calculation.", "boundary": "Very long historical comparisons are approximate. They do not establish equivalent wages, wealth, house prices or foreign purchasing power.", "task": "Record the official calculator's exact period basis. Compare two completed calendar years separately from a current-year/latest-month result; do not label both as identical annual observations.", "detail": "Choose the measure that matches the question. A basket-price comparison is useful for a rough cost adjustment, while a wage comparison may require a wage series. Our U.S. salary tool adjusts an entered salary by CPI; it does not estimate the market wage for the same occupation." }, { "id": "canada-inflation", "name": "Bank of Canada inflation calculator", "region": "Canada", "basis": "Historical calculator", "source": "canada", "summary": "An official Canadian cost-comparison tool linked to Statistics Canada's monthly consumer-price data.", "measure": "The page identifies Statistics Canada CPI series V41690973 and describes a basket-cost ratio calculation. The displayed base is 2002=100.", "period": "Its instructions describe comparisons from 1914 onward and explain that the most recent available reference month can lag the calendar date. Check the output's actual index and period.", "boundary": "A Canadian CPI level cannot be divided by a U.S. CPI level to calculate an exchange rate or compare absolute living costs. Index bases and baskets differ.", "task": "Use the official tool for a Canadian-dollar question, record both reported index values and verify the ratio. Keep currency, month convention and index base in your exported working record.", "detail": "If you need a cross-border budget, separately model currency conversion and the goods you expect to buy. An inflation adjustment changes a price over time within an index definition; it does not price every item in another country. Our local U.S. historical calculators do not import Canadian observations." }, { "id": "australia-inflation", "name": "Reserve Bank of Australia inflation calculator", "region": "Australia", "basis": "Historical calculator", "source": "australia", "summary": "An official Australian basket-cost comparison with calendar-year, financial-year and quarterly views.", "measure": "The calculator illustrates the change in the cost of a representative basket. Select the view matching the reporting period you actually need.", "period": "Calendar-year, financial-year and quarterly inputs appear separately. A quarter, a financial year and a monthly U.S. observation are not interchangeable endpoints.", "boundary": "Do not infer a current monthly Australian observation from the presence of a quarterly calculator. Use the tool's stated data basis and current available period.", "task": "Calculate the same approximate span in calendar-year and quarterly views. Record the chosen period convention and explain why the outputs can differ before copying a result into a report.", "detail": "A budget maintained by fiscal year needs an explicit fiscal-year convention. If you export a result, keep the selected view alongside the amount. Changing the currency label on our assumption-only scenario does not import Australian inflation; the rate remains the number entered by the user." }, { "id": "euro-area-hicp", "name": "ECB inflation and HICP resources", "region": "Euro area", "basis": "Official data", "source": "euro-area", "summary": "Official explanations and data links for euro-area and national Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices measures.", "measure": "HICP is the relevant harmonised price-index framework for these resources. A euro-area aggregate and an individual country's series have different geographic coverage.", "period": "Follow the official data links and inspect frequency, geography, index-versus-rate units and release status before downloading. Our local calculator does not load an ECB series.", "boundary": "A year-on-year inflation rate is not an index level and cannot be used as the denominator of an index-ratio conversion. An aggregate also does not establish a household's personal basket.", "task": "Choose a national or euro-area series deliberately. Confirm whether the data column is an index or a percentage rate, and preserve its series identifier and reference period with the export.", "detail": "To compare cumulative price changes, use compatible index levels at both endpoints. Adding annual inflation percentages ignores compounding. For an assumption exercise, our purchasing-power tool compounds the explicitly entered rate; that output must not be described as an observed ECB inflation path." }, { "id": "japan-cpi", "name": "Statistics Bureau of Japan CPI", "region": "Japan", "basis": "Official data", "source": "japan", "summary": "Official monthly and historical CPI resources, with separate national and Tokyo coverage and explicit base-revision documentation.", "measure": "Use the national series for a national question and inspect the published definition. Tokyo-area and national observations are separate geographic measures.", "period": "The official English page documents the 2025-base revision and links monthly, annual and historical results. Base revisions require care when joining downloaded tables.", "boundary": "Do not divide an index on one base by a later index on a different base without an official compatible historical link or rebasing method. A base change alone is not inflation.", "task": "Download a consistent historical series rather than joining isolated headlines. Check geography, base, frequency and any revision notes before calculating an endpoint ratio.", "detail": "An index value of 100 has meaning within its stated reference base. It does not mean the same absolute basket cost as 100 in another country. Our currency-labelled scenario can illustrate an entered yen amount with a chosen rate, but it does not claim to contain Japanese CPI or a yen exchange-rate forecast." }, { "id": "new-zealand-inflation", "name": "Reserve Bank of New Zealand inflation calculator", "region": "New Zealand", "basis": "Historical calculator", "source": "new-zealand", "summary": "An official purchasing-power tool with general and selected category or other series; it explains historical denomination changes.", "measure": "The general option uses an all-groups CPI basis. Other choices include measures such as food, wages or housing; do not treat every option as the same consumer basket.", "period": "The official page describes coverage from 1862 to the latest available figure and notes that dates before July 1967 use pounds rather than New Zealand dollars.", "boundary": "A housing-price comparison is not interchangeable with consumer inflation. Historic denomination and selected-series choices affect the meaning of the result.", "task": "Run a general-CPI example and then a different measure in the official tool. Record the series choice and denomination rather than reporting a single unexplained inflation-adjusted number.", "detail": "For a present-day purchasing-power scenario on this site, selecting NZD changes the monetary display only. It does not retrieve New Zealand prices. Historical country-specific work should use the official source with a compatible pair of periods and the required measure." } ], "sources": { "bls": { "title": "BLS CPI inflation calculator and missing October 2025 observation", "url": "https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm", "checked": "2026-10-17", "snapshot": null, "error": "HTTPError: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden", "web_note": "source-snapshots\\bls-web-note.txt", "verified_via": "official page through web tool; direct-access limitation retained" }, "bls-faq": { "title": "BLS CPI questions and answers", "url": "https://www.bls.gov/cpi/questions-and-answers.htm", "checked": "2026-10-17", "snapshot": null, "error": "HTTPError: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden", "web_note": "source-snapshots\\bls-faq-web-note.txt", "verified_via": "official page through web tool; direct-access limitation retained" }, "bls-api": { "title": "BLS public API limits", "url": "https://www.bls.gov/developers/api_faqs.htm", "checked": "2026-10-17", "snapshot": null, "error": "HTTPError: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden", "web_note": "source-snapshots\\bls-api-web-note.txt", "verified_via": "official page through web tool; direct-access limitation retained" }, "ons": { "title": "ONS personal inflation calculator methodology", "url": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/howisinflationaffectingyourhouseholdcosts/latest", "checked": "2026-10-17", "snapshot": "source-snapshots\\ons.html", "error": null }, "boe": { "title": "Bank of England historical inflation calculator", "url": "https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator", "checked": "2026-10-17", "snapshot": "source-snapshots\\boe.html", "error": null }, "canada": { "title": "Bank of Canada inflation calculator", "url": "https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator/", "checked": "2026-10-17", "snapshot": "source-snapshots\\canada.html", "error": null }, "australia": { "title": "Reserve Bank of Australia inflation calculator", "url": "https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/", "checked": "2026-10-17", "snapshot": null, "error": "HTTPError: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden", "web_note": "source-snapshots\\australia-web-note.txt", "verified_via": "official page through web tool; direct-access limitation retained" }, "euro-area": { "title": "ECB measuring inflation and HICP", "url": "https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/macroeconomic_and_sectoral/hicp/html/index.en.html", "checked": "2026-10-17", "snapshot": null, "error": "URLError: ", "web_note": "source-snapshots\\euro-area-web-note.txt", "verified_via": "official page through web tool; direct-access limitation retained" }, "japan": { "title": "Statistics Bureau of Japan CPI sources and base revisions", "url": "https://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/cpi/index.html", "checked": "2026-10-17", "snapshot": "source-snapshots\\japan.html", "error": null }, "new-zealand": { "title": "Reserve Bank of New Zealand inflation calculator", "url": "https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary-policy/about-monetary-policy/inflation-calculator", "checked": "2026-10-17", "snapshot": null, "error": "HTTPError: HTTP Error 403: Forbidden", "web_note": "source-snapshots\\new-zealand-web-note.txt", "verified_via": "official page through web tool; direct-access limitation retained" } } }