Methodology & Sources

State-level regular unleaded (87 octane) prices are pulled from the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report, the same source used by AP, Reuters, and CNN for gas price reporting. City prices use the state average; metro-specific data applied where available.

Rental data comes from the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), a repeat-rent index tracking the same units over time, which eliminates compositional bias from new construction. We use the Metro ZORI series covering all home types (SFR + condos + multifamily).

Grocery item prices come from the BLS Average Price Series via the FRED API. These are national average retail prices collected by BLS field representatives from stores across the country each month. They represent the price a typical consumer pays, not a specific store or brand.

💡 Know a lower local price? Submit it. Community prices help us show what your city actually pays vs. the national average.

Residential electricity rates come directly from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) via their open API. We pull state-level average retail rates for the residential sector, the same data utilities are required to report to the federal government.

State average annual car insurance premiums are sourced from Bankrate and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) annual auto insurance report. Figures represent full-coverage premiums for a typical driver profile.

Official CPI figures are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics via the FRED API. We report year-over-year percent change for the CPI-U (all urban consumers, seasonally adjusted). The "official" CPI on city pages is the national figure. We display it alongside real item prices so you can judge the gap yourself.

Any user can submit a local price with a receipt or screenshot. Community prices are labeled separately from official data and displayed alongside the BLS/FRED national figure. Submissions earn points on the leaderboard and count toward the airdrop allocation.

Each city page shows what share of the county median household income goes to five essentials. We add a year of typical rent (Zillow), 600 gallons of regular gas (AAA state average), groceries, electricity at 900 kWh a month (EIA) and full coverage car insurance (Bankrate and NAIC state average), then divide by median household income from the Census American Community Survey.

Groceries use the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey: what the average household in the city's Census region spends on food at home in a year. The figure is recalculated with every data refresh.